Last Saturday there was a protest march outside the headquarters of the Harley Medical Group, which installed some 13,900 PIP implants between September 2001 and March 2010.
What surprised me about this protest was that they chose to march on a Saturday when the building was unoccupied, so what exactly was the point? But more surprisingly, only about 60 people turned up. So - big scandal then?
Well, actually yes, it is!
I declare an interest. I once went out with a woman who had a breast implant because she was lop sided. OK, I know we all are but she was seriously lop sided and the implant was done on the NHS. I have a great deal of sympathy therefore for women who have had reconstructive surgery for any medical reason and have these faulty implants. The government has said - honourably in my view - that it will replace them on the NHS.
Now I get contentious. Firstly, I am completely unsympathetic to any woman who has had these implants done purely for vanity reasons. You're an idiot. I don't wish the faulty implants on you, but you had this done completely unecessarily and your own common sense should tell you that sticking stuff inside your body is potentially hazardous. And in any case, silicon implants have a shelf life shorter than your life span.
Having said that, companies such as Harley Medical made a lot of money doing these operations. They used these implants because they maximised their profit, albeit in good faith. The company has blamed the government's regulatory authority for approving the PIP implants. It accused the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of not carrying out proper checks. Sorry, but the mouthwash ain't making it - I can still smell the bullshit!
Under the Sale of Goods Act a product has to be fit for purpose. Breast implants are no exception. Also under this act, the supplier - not the manufacturer - has a legal obligation to replace the product free of charge. As I understand the situation, Harley Medical is worried that if it replaces all the PIP implants that it has installed it will have a seriously detrimental effect on its profits.
My message to Andrew Lansley is simple - don't wimp out and dump the bill on the taxpayers. Make the private clinics who fitted these things replace them, not the NHS.
4 comments:
The politicians want the taxpayer to pay because they are worried their "dick" implants might go wrong.
Sorry to be tedious but the implants carry a CE mark meaning they were endorsed as safe through the EU system.
As such no one can question this. Recompense will only be available through the EU which means not at all.
See EUreferendum for the hard info.
"The politicians want the taxpayer to pay because they are worried their "dick" implants might go wrong" ...
They must be shitting conkers about the brain implants then George ..
And, at long last we know just why Blair & Brown's arsehole transplants rejected them .. ;)
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