Spare a Thought For a Stripper This Christmas.

Here in the UK the story of toxic breast implants is in the national news. This relates to the 2010 discovery that French medical prosthetic manufacturer Poly Implant Prosthesis (PIP) had been using industrial grade rather then surgical grade silicone in it's silicone breast implants. This lower grade silicone carries health risks such as cancer and just out and out poisoning. The issue has actually been going on for so long that there is active legal action over the matter in both France and Britain and it provided the basis for a major plot line in the BBC medical drama/soap opera Holby City. What's brought the matter to the fore now is the case relating to my grandmother.

Although Mrs Justice Hogg has yet to put pen to paper to explain her ruling the argument being used is that there was no legal requirement to carry out a psychiatric assessment because my grandmother was never formally detained under the 1983 Mental Health Act. In itself this argument is a non-starter. It is well established under British law that if a person is coerced or deceived into going to a place and is then prevented from leaving that place by word or physical act they are considered to be imprisoned in that place regardless of whether the correct formal procedure was used or not. In fact the failure to use the correct procedure often constitutes the actus reus of false imprisonment. The precedent of Campbell V Tormey 1969 as per Ashworth immediately springs to mind due to it's reference to the provision of laboratory specimens such as blood, urine samples.

Even though the matter is clear cut France still brought it before the International Criminal Court (ICC) during the arraignment hearing of Laurent Gbagbo - the former President of the Ivory Coast. Although from the ICC's perspective this was a really unhelpful thing for France to do they ruled in my favour and Gbagbo will stand trial. Now France is saying that women who have undergone a faulty medical procedure should have that procedure reversed while Britain is still maintaining that they shouldn't.

So it appears France's military alliance with Britain will be a significant issue at their 2012 Presidential election. The current French administration which signed that alliance is now trying to apologise to Israel for it by being seen to take a tough line against Nazism and genocide. The Brits are just desperate to keep the story in the news over the Christmas period in order to heap pressure on any and all women in my life who may have had faulty implants or are worried about cancer. Needless to say that 2012 deadline is now looming large on the Brit's horizon.