Top

PIP Breast Implant Recall

January 27, 2012 by · Comments Off on PIP Breast Implant Recall 

PIP Breast Implant Recall, Kate Ward, 31, is a British woman who received defective breast implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese. She is shown after her surgery to remove the implants earlier this month.
When Kate Ward decided to get breast implants, she spent more than two years researching clinics.

“I asked what products they used, what were the chances of the implants rupturing, and what would happen if they did rupture,” Ward said. “I turned down a lot of clinics that seemed money-focused and wanted a deposit right away.”

Ward settled on The Harley Medical Group, which owns a chain of cosmetic surgery facilities across the U.K., including one in Ward’s north England hometown of Leeds.

“They told me they used the safest implants on the market,” said Ward, now 31. “They promised that even if the implants ruptured, the silicone inside wouldn’t leak.”

Seven years after her implant surgery, Ward is ensnared in one of the world’s biggest health scandals. Her implants did leak and now she’s worried about the consequences.

Ward’s implants were made by French company Poly Implant Prothèse, or PIP. The company was shut down by health regulators in France after government officials accused it of using industrial-grade silicone in its implants instead of medical-grade.

Jean-Claude Mas, who founded and ran PIP, was detained Thursday as part of a judicial investigation in the French city of Marseille into manslaughter and involuntary injuries, an official close to the investigation said. A regional official said former PIP No. 2 executive Claude Couty also was detained.

PIP’s silicone has been used to make mattresses, and contains fuel additives and substances used to make rubber tires.

Company officials have admitted a coverup and the scandal has cascaded across Europe and South America — but not Canada (although some Canadian women may have gone overseas for the procedure). Up to 300,000 women are believed to have received PIP’s substandard implants in at least 65 countries and health regulators are grappling with the fallout.

Bottom