
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994                    TAG: 9406100857 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A6    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM 
DATELINE: 940610                                 LENGTH: Medium

WOMEN GIVEN UNTIL JUNE 17 TO OPT OUT OF IMPLANT LAWSUIT

{LEAD} Kay Bell says her health improved remarkably once she had her silicone breast implants removed in April.

Gone are the joint, stomach and breast pains she had suffered for several years. Until earlier this year, various medical exams never showed that the implants she got in 1982 had leaked silicone into her system, she said.

{REST} Bell, 46, a dental assistant in Bedford, Texas, said the experience cost her $25,000 to $30,000, none of it paid by insurance. But she hopes to recoup some of her damages from a $4.25 billion fund that implant makers have agreed to finance to settle thousands of claims over the devices.

Women who got their silicone, silicone gel or saline breast implants before June 1, 1993, have until June 17 to notify the U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Ala., if they do not want to be part of a class-action lawsuit that the manufacturers in March agreed to settle.

Those who stay in could receive payments up to $1.4 million under current estimates.

An undetermined number of women are expected to opt out of the settlement and pursue separate lawsuits on their own.

Texas lawyer Keith Harrison, who represents more than 30 implant litigants, said a decision to stay in the settlement generally depends on the impact maker and the severity of a woman's health problems.

The class action was designed to resolve most of the estimated 20,000 breast implant cases filed against implant makers in federal and state courts around the country.

by CNB