After a seven-year legal battle, an Australian cosmetic surgery clinic has settled a class action against it for $25 million following allegations of patients experiencing punctured lungs, seizures, and ongoing issues as a result of botched breast augmentation surgery.
In a class action first launched against The Cosmetic Institute (TCI) in 2017, thousands of group members have received a proposed settlement notice of $25 million.
The case was originally scheduled for a hearing in the Supreme Court of NSW on Monday (15 April), but the parties reportedly reached a last-minute settlement agreement.
The surgery, which was advertised at the time as a boob job for the “cost of a cup of coffee a day” and allowed payment plans of $20 a week, cost $5,990 total and included the cost of the implants, surgery, hospital and anaesthetic fees as well as GST and follow up appointments.
However, the class action alleged that inadequate infection control procedures were used and that there was no capacity to access emergency assistance during the procedure. TCI Parramatta and TCI Bondi were also alleged to be unlicenced and unable to legally administer general anaesthesia.
The class action also alleged that TCI did not inform patients of potential risks around the “one-size-fits-all” procedure and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct.
Of the settlement, $10 million – subject to court approval and requested by law firm Turner Freeman, which represented the plaintiffs – will go towards legal fees, disbursements and settlement administration costs.
The 12 lead plaintiffs will receive $2.8 million collectively, with payments ranging from $120,000 up to $370,000. The rest of the settlement will be divided between the other group members, with approximately 1,000 registered so far.
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So yet again we are faced with litigation re breast ‘augmentation’ ‘gone wrong’. Dow Corning in 1980s (http://tortcomm.org/ (accessed 20 April 2024); the PIP scandalous use of industrial grade silicon – https://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/27/world/europe/pip-breast-implant-scandal-explained/index.html (accessed 20 April 2024) and this one, today. When will women learn and when will women value the miracle of the breasts nature developed for us – see Florence Williams, Breasts – A Natural and Unnatural History, https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/185786523244?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-159824-816807-4&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=185786523244&targetid=4584826057591670&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=&poi=&campaignid=554710918&mkgroupid=1299623855476196&rlsatarget=pla-4584826057591670&abcId=9326744&merchantid=136820&msclkid=b27ace0d3e1e14653ee8a82e7ba8ca39 (accessed 20 April 2024). When will we cease to be influenced by the forces that tell us our bodies aren’t ‘good’ enough. Every single part of our bodies is susceptible to the surgeon’s knife (well, surgeons’ knives, let’s face it), non-invasive (sic) medical (sic) ‘procedures’, being intruded upon by unqualified ‘beauticians’, Botoxed out of our minds – cut about, chopped about, material stuffed into our bodies, fat take out or taken off and shoved somewhere else, subjecting ourselves to the most dangerous medical (sic) operation – the so-called Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) – which kills … Please! Women! We will have to learn to say ‘no’ – and to love our own bodies as they are … the medical (sic) industry (yes), the beauticians’ industry (yes), the pharmaceutical companies … they will not cease to inflict damage upon us in the interests of their shareholders. Although we have a right to expect adherence to medical, safety, proper corporate governance standards, responsible media and women who tell the truth rather than manufacture their own bodies and do not acknowledge that photoshopping is engaged, too, whatever the contours purportedly manufactured at the knife of the surgeon, the tools of the beautician, the puffing of the beauty and ‘anti-aging’ treatments churned out by the pharmaceutical industry … our expectation will never be met. Women! Rise Up! Get off the operating table … You have nothing to lose but those chains that bind you to male-designated determinations as to what makes a woman’s body beautiful – and to you really believe their taste (taste?) should rule the world – and your preciouse body? and everything to gain … Beauty Women’s Bodies and The Law – Performances in Plastic … Behttps://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-27998-1 (accessed 20 April 2024)