France ponders removing risky breast implants

Recent Cases

Emmanuelle Maria's breasts were burning and globules of silicone gel were protruding into her armpits. Her implants had exploded inside her. Yet her doctors, she says, told her nothing was wrong.

Now, she wants the French government to tell 30,000 women to get their implants removed — at the state's expense — to call attention to their risks and save others from potential pain and indignity.

Prompted by calls from implant wearers and leading doctors, French health authorities are considering a drastic and unprecedented move: recommending mass surgery to rid the country of a type of breast implant that investigators say was secretly made with cheap industrial silicone whose medical dangers remain unclear.

Governments around Europe are hanging on France's decision Friday. Tens of thousands more women in Britain, Italy, Spain and other European nations are walking around with the same pre-filled implants, made by the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese, or PIP.

Health officials from several European countries held a conference call Wednesday to discuss the implants, Portugal's Director-General of Health, Dr. Francisco Jorge, told The Associated Press. European Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent said no decisions were made, but France informed the others of the situation.

Related listings

  • Poker company co-founder pleads guilty in NYC

    Poker company co-founder pleads guilty in NYC

    Recent Cases 12/20/2011

    The co-founder of an Internet poker company pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy charges, admitting that he knew he was breaking the law when he arranged for U.S. banks to process gambling proceeds. Brent Buckley, 31, entered the plea in U.S. Distric...

  • Ind. appeals court upholds man's 60-year sentence

    Ind. appeals court upholds man's 60-year sentence

    Recent Cases 12/19/2011

    The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a southern Indiana man's 60-year prison sentence for beating his girlfriend to death with a crowbar. The Princeton Daily Clarion reports the court ruled Thursday that 68-year-old Robert P. Spangler's sentence w...

  • Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP Announces Class Action

    Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP Announces Class Action

    Recent Cases 12/18/2011

    The law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP announces that class action lawsuits have been brought on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of The Cooper Companies, Inc. between March 4, 2011 and November 15, 2011, inclusive. If yo...

Does a car or truck accident count as a work injury?

If an employee is injured in a car crash while on the job, they are eligible to receive workers’ compensation benefits. “On the job” injuries are not limited to accidents and injuries that happen inside the workplace, they may also include injuries suffered away from an employee’s place of work while performing a job-related task, such as making a delivery or traveling to a client meeting.

Regular commutes to and from work don’t usually count. If you get into an accident on your way in on a regular workday, it’s probably not considered a work injury for the purposes of workers’ compensation.

If you drive around as part of your job, an injury on the road or loading/unloading accident is likely a work injury. If you don’t typically drive around for work but are required to drive for the benefit of your employer, that would be a work injury in many cases. If you are out of town for work, pretty much any driving would count as work related. For traveling employees, any accidents or injuries that happen on a work trip, even while not technically working, can be considered a work injury. The reason is because you wouldn’t be in that town in the first place, had you not been on a work trip.

Workers’ compensation claims for truck drivers, traveling employees and work-related injuries that occur away from the job site can be challenging and complex. At Krol, Bongiorno & Given, we understand that many families depend on the income of an injured worker, and we are proud of our record protecting the injured and disabled. We have handled well over 30,000 claims for injured workers throughout the state of Illinois.

Business News