Rejected petition The UK tax payer should not pay for the removal of PIP breast implants.

As momentum grows for the removal of PIP breast implants, there is a risk that the NHS (and therefore the tax payer) will have to pick up the bill. The precident has been set in Europe already, with the French government stating that it will pay for the removal of implants from over 30,000 women. If the UK government took the same action, it could be responsible for the removal of implants from over 40,000 women at a cost running into many millions of pounds. The vast majority of women affected elected for voluntary cosmetic enhancement using these implants. Any removal should remain the responsibility of the original surgeon or clinic in consultation with the lady concened.

The UK tax payer should therefore not contribute to the cost of removal of PIP implants, other than those originally funded by the state. Furthermore, the NHS should not fund the cost of MRI scans to assess if the current implants have ruptured, this cost should be born by the individual concerned.