Healthy skin centre

Breast implant scandal may lead to insurance scheme

20th January 2012 - An insurance scheme for cosmetic surgery patients could be introduced in the wake of the PIP breast implant scandal.

The idea has come from Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, the man who is leading a review into the safety of patients undergoing cosmetic procedures. He says the scheme would help protect consumers.

The review was prompted by concerns that French-made PIP breast implants, which contain non-medical grade silicone gel, could rupture. Although an expert review in the UK had found no evidence of a link with cancer, or that dangerous toxins could leak into the body, the government has announced that it will pay for women fitted with the implants on the NHS to have them removed.

Insurance protection scheme

Around 40,000 women in the UK were fitted with the implants. Of these, 5% had the operation on the NHS, with the remainder fitted privately. Despite pressure from the government, three leading private clinics - the Harley Medical Group, Transform and Surgicare - have so far ruled out offering free replacements for their patients.

Now, Sir Bruce, who is the NHS medical director, has told BBC Radio 4s 'The Report' that he is looking at the possibility of a scheme that would work much like the insurance protection scheme in place in the travel industry.

"One of the things my review will be looking at will be ... something like the ABTA arrangement, which means that when a company runs into trouble for whatever reason, the consumer is covered," Sir Bruce told the programme.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) offers financial protection to holidaymakers and travel companies if things go wrong. Companies pay a subscription which goes towards a fund that can bail out customers in the event of a problem.

According to Sir Bruce, this model "captured the flavour of where we want to go". However, he said he did not want to pre-empt the findings of his expert working group.

Question of liability

Nigel Mercer, a consultant plastic surgeon and former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, says he recently suggested to Sir Bruce the idea of an all-encompassing 'adverse outcome' insurance scheme covering all implants.

However, he tells us that one major problem of introducing an ABTA-like scheme for cosmetic surgery is the question of who would be liable and for how long. "I think the problem with that is that you always have to assume that any implant you put into someone will eventually fail," he says. "A hip joint will eventually fail, a breast implant will eventually fail - that's just the nature of anything mechanical; you can't drive a car for ever and a day."