Government’s final report on the safety of PIP implants released

The final Government report has concluded that the gel within PIP breast implants is not toxic or carcinogenic and is not a long term health risk to women despite the gel used being industrial based silicone.

The report has found that PIP breast implants have double the rupture rate of other implants. It is believed that around 47,000 women in the UK were fitted with PIP breast implants.

Mark Harvey of Hugh James Solicitors is representing nearly 1,000 women with PIP breast implants and has been appointed by the Court as the lead solicitor in the PIP Group Litigation. He has welcomed this new announcement, but warned that his clients will expect further tests to be undertaken on these implants:

“We welcome today’s announcements and it will be some relief to our clients that have been affected by this scandal. We also agree wholeheartedly with the recognition in the report that anxiety over possible health effects is in itself a form of health risk, something that we see on a daily basis in our own clients."

 

Read the full news release here.

PIP breast implants Medical Device Alert

On 15 March 2012, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a new Medical Device Alert for PIP breast implants manufactured before January 2001.

The PIP breast implants manufactured after January 2001 by Poly Implant Prothèse are already the subject of a Medical Device Alert issued in October 2010, amidst concerns of increased rupture rates and the use of an unapproved, industrial grade silicone gel.

 

The French authorities have provided new information to the MHRA which suggests that no guarantees canbe made that PIP breast implants manufactured prior to January 2001 are filled with approved, medical grade silicone.

It is estimated that a further 7,000 women may have been fitted with PIP breast implants prior to January 2001, in addition to the 40,000 who are believed to have already been affected.

Mark Harvey of Hugh James represents more than 1,000 PIP patients and has been appointed as lead solicitor by the High Court. Mark says “This will be very disappointing for the women involved. We are not surprised given that PIP were facing compensation claims through much of the late 1990s but together with the recent scandal of the metal on metal hip prostheses it does of course simply reinforce our previously stated concerns of just how ineffective the regulation of these products has been.

We call for a public enquiry into the whole way in which medical devices and products are regulated in the UK and across Europe."

Read the full news release here.

Group Litigation Order (GLO) now in place for personal injury claims

On 9 March 2012, the High Court in Cardiff made a Group Litigation Order (GLO) in relation to personal injury claims being made by women who received PIP breast implants. Mark Harvey of Hugh James has been appointed as the lead solicitor. The GLO will allow those affected to have their cases heard by a Judge. Those who have not yet started their claim will need to do so to be included in any further action.

The purpose of the GLO is to ensure that all such cases are pursued and managed together. The GLO has been approved by the President of Queen's Bench Division and the GLO and has now been lodged in the High Court in London. It is anticipated that there will be a trial in the winter of 2013.

Read more about Hugh James PIP claims.