US BREAST IMPLANT SETTLEMENT

A settlement has been reached regarding breast implants in the USA manufactured by Dow Corning, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Baxter Healthcare. The settlement includes a figure of $3.7 billion and the setting up of a procedure and schedule for women to join the class action suit.

The expected compensation amounts would be $105,000 to $1.2 million, after lawyers' fees and administration costs are deducted. The amount will depend on the severity of the disease, with older women receiving less than younger women. The companies involved do not feel the implants injured the women or caused various autoimmune disease but say they agreed to the settlement to put the litigation behind them.

The companies will begin to advertise in the week starting April 11, in newspapers and magazines to tell women how to learn more about the class action suit and how to join it. Women can drop out even after they agree to be part of the suit if so many women join that there is not enough to pay all involved, and it also allows the companies to drop out if they are still being sued by too many individual claimants.