As scientific knowledge has progressed significantly, the government is opening up the possibility of re-examining certain claims for compensation under the Mediator.
This is important news for all people who feel they have been victims of the Mediator. The government has decided to propose a review of certain compensation claims by the panel of experts of the National Office for Compensation for Medical Accidents, Iatrogenic Affections and Nosocomial Infections (ONIAM). An amendment to the amending finance bill for 2014, currently being debated in the Senate, has been tabled in this regard.
This turnaround is due to the desire to take into account the evolution of knowledge. “Since the establishment of the compensation system for victims of the Mediator with ONIAM in 2011, scientific knowledge of cardiac damage likely to be induced by this drug has significantly improved, such that certain situations rejected by the college of experts in 2012 and 2013 could, today, be considered attributable to the Mediator by the same body ”, underlines the ministry in a press release.
A “necessary” review of files
As a result of this new scientific knowledge, it has become “necessary to authorize a review of the rejections pronounced by the panel of experts, on the basis of incomplete files or on the basis of scientific knowledge today outdated, in order to guarantee a equal access to this compensation procedure, which is free and faster than going to court, ”explains the Ministry of Health.
The press release lists two scenarios which could lead to the re-examination of a file: “if new elements are likely to justify a modification of the previous opinion”, and “if the damage observed is likely, in the light of the evolution of knowledge scientists, to be blamed for benfluorex (Mediator) when they could not be at the time when the claim was rejected. “
1,812 applications rejected
According to figures communicated in September by Oniam, the panel of experts had delivered 620 positive opinions to date, 1,812 requests had been rejected out of a total of 8,519 requests.
Mediator was prescribed for 30 years, first against excess fat in the blood, then as an adjunct treatment for overweight diabetics, before being withdrawn from the market in November 2009. It was in fact widely used for its appetite suppressant properties.
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