《Court extends Dow Corning breast implant settlement to ’tissue expanders’》：
Washington — A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the $2 billion Dow Corning fund to pay claims stemming from faulty breast implants may also cover another medical device known as “tissue expanders.”
The three judge panel said in a ruling written by Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton that the fund can accept claims from patients who received “tissue expanders,” saying the federal judge in Detroit overseeing the case had made a “reasonable assessment” of the evidence.
The committee advising people with claims praised the ruling. “This means that a woman who had a Dow Corning tissue expander can proceed with her claim. … This is a significant victory since Dow Corning had urged the courts to find that these claimants should receive no benefits at all. This should conclude all appeals over this issue and allow claimants whose claims have been on hold for the past 10 years to finally receive payment.”
It’s the latest chapter in a nearly 20-year saga over faulty breast implants. At issue was whether the “technical” or “ordinary” definition of breast implants should apply.
Breast implants are “silicone gel and saline-filled breast implants with silicone elastomer envelopes manufactured and either sold or otherwise distributed” by Dow Corning. Dow Corning made over 250 “tissue expanders,” but noted three Dow Corning models were “designed for implantation in the breast, where they are filled with saline in order to stretch the patient’s skin before (typically) being removed after several weeks.”
Dow Corning spokesman Joe Plahutnik said the company had no comment.
Dow Corning began selling breast implants in the 1960s. In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration asked manufacturers to voluntarily halt the sale of breast implants, and the manufacturers complied except for limited, FDA sanctioned uses. The suggested ink between breast implants and disease led to tens of thousands of personal injury lawsuits
By 1995, thousands of breast implant patients filed lawsuits against Dow Corning. Dow Corning eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and agreed to a plan of reorganization that established a more than $2 billion fund for patients willing to settle their claims. Dow Corning’s legal briefs said the scientific consensus is there is “no elevated relative risk or odds ratios for an association of implants with disease.” The fund has made payments of up to $300,000 for breast implants, according to court documents, and up to $10,000 for other related products including 42 models of hip and knee implants; 15 chin, nose or jaw implants or materials; and 16 testicular or penile implants.
The fund has made payments of nearly $1.3 billion to 126,000 people through March.
U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood in Detroit has been overseeing the fund for 15 years. She has authority “to resolve controversies and disputes regarding interpretation and implementation” of the plan.
Dow Corning said the tissue expanders were not intended to augment or replace breast tissue. “Rather, their sole function is to facilitate the short-term growth of skin and other tissue in preparation for surgical placement of an implant or surgical repair of a burn or skin wound,” Dow Corning said in a court filing.
This is the second time the court has taken up the issue, having asked Hood in 2010 to look again the issue and Judge Hood reiterated her findings.
The appeals court said “Dow Corning’s arguments to the contrary fall short,” saying the company’s argument rested heavily on the testimony of an economist at an earlier bankruptcy, Frederick Dunbar, proceeding who did not mention tissue expanders by name in his estimate of the value of future breast-implant claims. In 1999, he estimated Dow Corning would pay about 160,000 breast implant claims.
The appeals court found the “value of tissue-expander claims was already baked into Dunbar’s estimate, making it unnecessary to discuss these products separately during the Dow Corning bankruptcy hearings.”
Dow Corning said the expansion of claims to “tissue expanders” will lead to “substantial additional expenditures.”
Dow Corning Corporation is 50 percent owned by Corning Inc. and 50 percent owned by Dow Holdings Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Midland-based Dow Chemical Co.
《Court extends Dow Corning breast implant settlement to ’tissue expanders’》：
Washington — A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the $2 billion Dow Corning fund to pay claims stemming from faulty breast implants may also cover another medical device known as “tissue expanders.”
The three judge panel said in a ruling written by Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton that the fund can accept claims from patients who received “tissue expanders,” saying the federal judge in Detroit overseeing the case had made a “reasonable assessment” of the evidence.
The committee advising people with claims praised the ruling. “This means that a woman who had a Dow Corning tissue expander can proceed with her claim. … This is a significant victory since Dow Corning had urged the courts to find that these claimants should receive no benefits at all. This should conclude all appeals over this issue and allow claimants whose claims have been on hold for the past 10 years to finally receive payment.”
It’s the latest chapter in a nearly 20-year saga over faulty breast implants. At issue was whether the “technical” or “ordinary” definition of breast implants should apply.
Breast implants are “silicone gel and saline-filled breast implants with silicone elastomer envelopes manufactured and either sold or otherwise distributed” by Dow Corning. Dow Corning made over 250 “tissue expanders,” but noted three Dow Corning models were “designed for implantation in the breast, where they are filled with saline in order to stretch the patient’s skin before (typically) being removed after several weeks.”
Dow Corning spokesman Joe Plahutnik said the company had no comment.
Dow Corning began selling breast implants in the 1960s. In 1992, the Food and Drug Administration asked manufacturers to voluntarily halt the sale of breast implants, and the manufacturers complied except for limited, FDA sanctioned uses. The suggested ink between breast implants and disease led to tens of thousands of personal injury lawsuits
By 1995, thousands of breast implant patients filed lawsuits against Dow Corning. Dow Corning eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and agreed to a plan of reorganization that established a more than $2 billion fund for patients willing to settle their claims. Dow Corning’s legal briefs said the scientific consensus is there is “no elevated relative risk or odds ratios for an association of implants with disease.” The fund has made payments of up to $300,000 for breast implants, according to court documents, and up to $10,000 for other related products including 42 models of hip and knee implants; 15 chin, nose or jaw implants or materials; and 16 testicular or penile implants.
The fund has made payments of nearly $1.3 billion to 126,000 people through March.
U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood in Detroit has been overseeing the fund for 15 years. She has authority “to resolve controversies and disputes regarding interpretation and implementation” of the plan.
Dow Corning said the tissue expanders were not intended to augment or replace breast tissue. “Rather, their sole function is to facilitate the short-term growth of skin and other tissue in preparation for surgical placement of an implant or surgical repair of a burn or skin wound,” Dow Corning said in a court filing.
This is the second time the court has taken up the issue, having asked Hood in 2010 to look again the issue and Judge Hood reiterated her findings.
The appeals court said “Dow Corning’s arguments to the contrary fall short,” saying the company’s argument rested heavily on the testimony of an economist at an earlier bankruptcy, Frederick Dunbar, proceeding who did not mention tissue expanders by name in his estimate of the value of future breast-implant claims. In 1999, he estimated Dow Corning would pay about 160,000 breast implant claims.
The appeals court found the “value of tissue-expander claims was already baked into Dunbar’s estimate, making it unnecessary to discuss these products separately during the Dow Corning bankruptcy hearings.”
Dow Corning said the expansion of claims to “tissue expanders” will lead to “substantial additional expenditures.”
Dow Corning Corporation is 50 percent owned by Corning Inc. and 50 percent owned by Dow Holdings Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Midland-based Dow Chemical Co.