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PIP Breast Implants Claims - Personal Injury Compensation

Friday, 20 January 2012 Posted by Kathleen McCarthy Category Personal Injury 0 comment

If you have been injured or suffered loss due to the PIP breast implant controversy then our personal injury solicitors are in a position to assist.

The French company Poly Implant Prostheses (PIP) are at the centre of an international health scare involving their silicone breast implant which was banned when found to contain a non-medical grade silicone filler.  The company are now in administration.

The French government, following concerns about high rupture rate, advised its citizens who had the PIP implant to have them removed. It undertook to pay full costs associated with the procedure.

In the UK the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued an alert recommending that the PIP implants should not be used although considered that the rupture rate in the UK would be less.

3,000 cancer patients who had them for breast reconstruction will have their implants replaced for free by the NHS for compassionate reasons to ease concerns of patients. But that leaves thousands of women fitted with the implants with no official recourse for help.

The 3 leading clinics performing breast implant operations which would have used the PIP products are Transform, The Harley Medical Group and Surgicare.  All 3 have declined to offer free replacements for their patients despite the government saying they have a moral obligation to their customers.

The Government are now considering the introduction of an insurance protection scheme (which will operate much like the Abta arrangement in the travel industry) to offer protection to cosmetic surgery patients in the future.

The independent Healthcare Advisory Service (HAS) says women are more confused and anxious than ever.

If you are affected by breast implants  manufactured by Poly Implant Prosthesis (PIP) then contact our personal injury department on 0845 270 1858 and they will offer free and confidential legal advice

Tags: Personal Injury Glasgow, Compensation Claim Glasgow

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About the author

Kathleen McCarthy
As a child growing up around the mining area of Lanarkshire in the 1970s I recall easily the memories of hard working people telling stories of their working life. The conditions of such work was often poor. Industrial injury and disease were common place but the people were, for the most part, stoic and grateful to have work. They were of the genuine view that hard work never killed anyone. I understood the message being conveyed to me but understood too that bad working conditions could and did.

Conditions have improved in the UK since the 70s thanks to the establishment of a health and safety system, the foundation of which was the Health and Safety at Work Act 1975. The legislation had at its heart a simple but enduring principle that those who create risk are best placed to control that risk whether employers, occupiers or manufacturers of articles or substances for use at work.

I am disheartened by the myth of the "compensation culture" or that the UK is becoming risk averse as a result of compensation claims. The truth is very different. The simple fact is that broadly claims have fallen in the UK in the last 10 years.

From the mid 80s and through the 90s I worked in Cambuslang which is a town on the south-east outskirts of Glasgow. I dealt with all types of personal injury, industrial injury and disease work; the area being largely populated with steel workers and workers of the Hoover plant.

I found that when I qualified I had a natural leaning towards personal injury work and the protection of the rights of workers and others harmed as a result of the carelessness of others. Compensation is only restorative. It really only gives back what was lost in the first place. It is important that those injured have access to specialists who can assist in safeguarding their access to justice. That is the philosophy behind the Glasgow Law Practice.

Kathleen McCarthy,
Director Glasgow Law Practice
LLB, Master of Law (Medicine, Law and Ethics)
Member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
and the Scottish Head Injury Forum

http://www.theglasgowlawpractice.co.uk

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