€70,000 payout in breast implants scandal
900 Irish included in worldwide PIP settlement
VICTIMS of a breast implant scandal – including 900 Irish women – are in line for compensation payouts of up to €70,000.
The first awards from a massive class action are set to be agreed by a court sitting in France this week.
It will compensate the first batch of victims, three of whom are from Ireland, who had industrial silicone gel inserted in their bodies with the “PIP” breast implants.
The scandal affected up to 300,000 women around the world, including thousands here.
PIP went bust in 2009 and its chief executive Jean Claude Mas died before serving a four-year jail term.
However, lawyers in France have taken a landmark legal action against a German certification company – TUV – which sanctioned the product for use.
Global victims’ association PIPA had previously said the minimum compensation from the commercial court sitting in the city of Toulon would be €3,000.
Medical experts are now evaluating the damages suffered by individual victims.
The court has agreed a scale to measure both the physical and mental suffering of those who had the industrial grade gel, designed for use in mattresses, inserted in their bodies with the implants.
Lawyer Olivier Aumaitre said: “This is an important victory that we have won and a major fact that ensures each victim a minimum compensation for anxiety.
“Added to this are the suffering endured – multiple operations, complications, respiratory insufficiencies after migration of the silicone into the lungs, various pains, aesthetic damage that is often permanent, past or future health expenses.
“For the first group of patients, the compensation varies, depending on the situation of each victim, from €17,000 to €70,000, bearing in mind that some victims have very serious cases.
“With time, the dangerousness of the PIP gel appears more and more probable.”
The average payout is set to be €40,000 bringing the bill for the German quality assurance firm to more than €1billion.
The victims’ group said it still wants to hear from others who suffered and are seeking to join the class action by registering at www. pipaworld.com.
Many women experienced ruptures of the dodgy implants which caused silicone balls to travel through the body causing inflammation.
Others are living with permanent anxiety and depression and respiratory problems after the silicone reached their lungs.
The faulty implants were used for breast enlargement and restructuring surgery for 10 years in 65 countries before it was discovered that they were filled with industrial silicone gel
and withdrawn from sale.
65 Number of countries where the implants were used