Breast implant blunders continue to cause confusion

An international health scare that was generated when an estimated 300,000 breast implants, fitted in around 65 countries over a 12-year period were banned in 2010 after they were discovered to be rupturing to leak silicone more easily than other brands.

The furore around these implants, manufactured by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) is showing no sign of dying down as thousands of British women are continuing to hear mixed reports from leading officials.

Alarmingly, as reported in a Daily Mail article, there has been one fatal case of cancer in the UK as well as 16 in France, all with links to the implants.

The official line from both the French and German governments was that women were to act quickly to have the faulty PIP implants removed; however, an investigation into rupture rates of the same implants here in the UK has found no evidence to justify such drastic measures.

Andrew Lansley, Britain’s Health Secretary, recently told the BBC: "The overwhelming evidence continues to support the advice we've given women previously.

"It is not advisable for women to routinely have implants removed because the risk associated with an operation of that kind would outweigh the benefit of removing these implants."

This information has left around 50,000 women in Britain in a state of bewilderment as to what to do for the best, and the debate around whether or not these implants should be removed and who should foot the bill for the surgery if they are is becoming ever more heated.

However, it may come as some relief to those who had their implants fitted by the NHS that they are, in fact, eligible to have them removed and replaced at no extra cost, should they choose to, as Mr Lansley stated on the NHS website:

"We believe that private healthcare providers have a moral duty to offer the same service to their patients that we will offer to NHS patients - free information, consultations, scans, and removal if necessary."

However, leading cosmetic surgery firm Transform insist that their list of 4,000 PIP-breast-implant patients will have to pay for the procedure, should they decide they want to have the implants removed, with a company spokeswoman Transform confirming:

"Currently, Transform patients will have to pay to have a removal and re-operation."

Anybody with PIP implants believes they may have ruptured should seek medical attention immediately, and click here for more information about how to make a personal injury claim.

We can help

If you’ve undergone faulty breast implants and have been suffering from any complications or are concerned about health implications as a result, then you could be entitled to make a claim for Faulty Breast Implants. Because there are TIME LIMITS in place for bringing a claim, we advise you to contact us immediately on FREEPHONE 0800 567 7866.

Request a FREE CALL BACK by filling in the form to the right, and one of our expert advisors will contact you (without obligation) to discuss the matter further at your preferred time.

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