Breast implant cases face delays

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Breast implant cases face delays

Processing to take longer after 14-year ban

February 15, 2006

FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER

Breast implant claims

Fourteen years after federal regulators banned

silicone breast implants for commercial use, thousands

of women still haven't received a penny for legal

claims that the implants damaged their health.

And starting today, processing of the cases will slow

even more for two months while the court-appointed

Settlement Facility-Dow Corning Trust installs a new

computer system.

The administrator of the facility, appointed last May

by U.S. District Judge Hood, promises that the

new computer system, plus a few additional employees,

will allow most claims to be reviewed -- but not

necessarily paid -- by September.

" I predict that by the end of October of this year,

every single pending claim will have been reviewed,

and people will have heard from us, " said

Austern, claims administrator of facility. There is no

payment deadline, but letters the facility sent in

June 2004 led many claimants and their attorneys to

believe they would receive money soon. They say their

calls and letters have been ignored and that the court

in Detroit promised a system that would allow them to

track their cases electronically, which was

implemented this year.

To get access to the system, claimants or their

attorneys need passwords, and so far mostly large law

firms have been the ones to get them.

A separate problem is that many courts are so

backlogged that cases lag for years without

resolution.

The court will begin installing a new computer system

today that will, temporarily, halve the number of

claims the staff typically can process, Austern said

last week. Retraining the staff on the new system also

will slow processing of claims, he said. " So, for two

months, this will get worse.

" We're not going as fast as we should, " particularly

with claims that implants caused chronic diseases,

such as arthritis, he said. Still, he added, " I'd rate

the performance of the facility as very good ... which

is not the same as saying there's room for

improvement. "

Vanera , 58, of West Bloomfield, is one of

thousands waiting for an answer.

A breast cancer survivor, she had breast implant

surgery in 1986 for reconstruction. She had them

removed in 1994 because they caused her pain,

headaches and other problems, she said. The same year,

she filed a claim to be paid for the surgery and

implant-related health bills.

After no response for six years, she hired Clawson

lawyer Wilbert Simkovitz to look into the matter. The

facility told him to file another claim, then told him

that her claim was being denied because she had filed

two claims.

Now, the court will recognize only the latter claim

filed in 2000, possibly explaining part of the delay.

And still has no idea where her case stands.

" Why has this taken more than 10 years? " Simkovitz

asked. " Where is the court oversight? "

A spokeswoman for Hood said she does not comment on

pending cases and referred questions to Austern.

Attorneys and women involved in the case said that,

before Austern arrived, the facility challenged many

claims on technicalities. Sometimes it demanded

paperwork already filed. Other times, it nitpicked any

discrepancy found.

For example, if a doctor filed records saying a

woman's breast implant had ruptured, but supporting

pathology documents mentioned that the implants had

bled or leaked but not ruptured, the facility would

deny the claim, said Doug s, an attorney with

Detroit's Charfoos & Christensen law firm.

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What it is: A $3.2-billion court settlement set aside

by Midland-based Dow Corning Inc. to pay for legal

claims filed by those with breast implants and others

with silicone medical devices. U.S. District Judge

Page Hood is overseeing the case in Detroit.

To date: In all, $527 million has been paid for 51,315

claims, according to Austern, facility

administrator.

What's next: The court facility processing claims

slows today to install a new computer system. The

administrator promises that all who have filed claims

will get answers about their cases by October. Federal

regulators have notified silicone breast implant

manufacturers that they expect to lift a 14-year

commercial ban on the products, but a federal

investigation has slowed the approval.

For information: Call 866-874-6099 or go to

www.dcsettlement.com and

www.fda.gov/cdrh/breastimplants/index.html.

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Contact PATRICIA ANSTETT at 313-222-5021 or

anstett@....