The private clinics which were involved in fitting faulty breast implants to women across the UK are thought to have a legal duty to rectify the problem, according to both politicians and lawyers.
The clinics have previously claimed that the Government has a moral responsibility to pay for operations to remove or replace the faulty French implants.
Earlier in the week a representative for one of the clinics involved in the case, Mel Braham, spoke out to say that he felt "clinics were as innocent as patients".
The implants were manufactured by a French firm, Poly Implant Prothèse, which has since gone into administration. The implants have been under scrutiny after a French woman died from a rare form of lymphoma following a rupture of one of her PIP implants.
It subsequently came to light that PIP had been using industrial grade silicon in their products, instead of the medical grade silicon for which they were licenced.
The French Government announced at the end of last year that all 30,000 French women who had been fitted with PIP implants should have them removed or replaced. The French Government has agreed to foot the bill for the enormous surgical operation.
UK clinics argue that they only used the PIP implants because they were approved by a government agency for use on UK patients.
However, lawyers have spoken out roundly to claim that liability lies firmly with the clinics.
"Customers have a straightforward claim against providers of substandard goods for breach of contract, under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982," said Hugh Preston, a barrister at 7 Bedford Row in London, who is representing a group of patients fitted with PIP implants.
"In any contract that involves the sale of a product, the product has to be of satisfactory quality. That's exactly the same for whatever product a consumer buys, be it a toaster, a fridge, a car, or medical product. That is a statutory duty that the seller can't get out of," he added.
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Related links:
Read more on the story (The Telegraph)
What do I have to prove to claim compensation? (FindLaw)
Find local personal injury solicitors throughout the UK (FindLaw)
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