Patient slams Rotherham clinic over breast implants

A WORRIED customer of a Rotherham cosmetic surgery clinic has called on it to offer free screening after concern over the safety of breast implants.

Lindsay Garthwaite (48), of Kimberworth, had French-made PIP implants, which are at the centre of a safety scare, in 2007, and said: “I think the clinic should have been in touch to offer a free screening at the very least.

“The clinic is offering a discounted rate for breast augmentation but they’re offering that to patients at the moment anyway.

“It bascially looks like they’re cashing in on a very traumatic situation.”

Lindsay, a recruitment officer, said that her implants changed her life for the better after she had surgery to boost her breast size back to a DD after having children.

Now she faces a trip to her GP for advice on the health risks the procedure might have created.

She said: “I paid for my surgery privately and, although I could have had the surgery on the NHS, I never wanted to. Now it’s the only place I have left to turn.

“I didn’t want to drain NHS resources but now I’m going to have to visit my GP for some advice and reassurance. It’s all I can do.”

The clinic, on Clifton Mount, Rotherham, has this week been branded "“utterly evasive” in its dealings with former patients who received the controversial implants.

A statement published on the clinic’s website this week added to their frustration, demanding £50 from PIP patients for their own medical records and £2,595 “in cash” if they wanted to return to the clinic to have their PIP implants replaced after their removal by NHS medics.

WE WERE LEFT AFRAID AND ALONE . . .  breast implant patients speak out. SEE THIS WEEK'S ADVERTISER.