Respirators: damning documents against Philips sent to justice


Philips headquarters in Amsterdam. SEM VAN DER WAL / AFP

The Dutch group continued to sell these devices used against sleep apnea when it was aware of a serious problem concerning the foam fitted to them, according to France Info.

Philips’ faulty ventilator scandal continues to escalate. The public health center of the Paris prosecutor’s office has just been seized of key documents in understanding this health file, reports FranceInfo. They seem to accredit the fact that the Dutch giant was aware of the malfunctions of its respirators and did not react.

These devices, used in particular by patients suffering from sleep apnea, including 350,000 in France and 1.5 million throughout Europe, contain sound-absorbing foam. In June, Philips noticed that particles were coming out of certain devices and could be inhaled or ingested by the patient, which could cause irritation and headaches. The group, which recalled 5.3 million respirators, also mentioned the risk “potential” long-term cancers.

In France, a preliminary investigation was opened in June to “endangering the lives of others”, “aggravated deception and administration of harmful substances”, following patient complaints. According France News, the documents seized by the courts and communicated by a group of French, American, Italian and Austrian lawyers, suggest that the Dutch giant and some of its American subcontractors became aware of a serious problem concerning the polyurethane foam used in these respirators long before the recall of their products. And they did not inform the relevant health authorities or respirator users around the world.

Non-medical foam

One testimony is particularly damning, according to the public media. On April 1, Lee Lawler, 74, the technical director of the company Wm. T. Burnett, a specialist in the United States of industrial polyurethane foams, responded to American justice. “This engineer has cleared the responsibility of his company and relentlessly pointed out the manifest shortcomings of Philips and its subcontractors.writing France Info. Lee Lawler thus explained that the company Wm. T. Burnett manufactures polyurethane foam for an exclusively industrial and non-medical purpose. The latter also informed American justice of damning emails exchanged with direct partners of Philips, from 2016. In one of them, he responds to the concern of the Philips subcontractor on the obvious deterioration of the foam. Two years later, in 2018, this subcontractor replied that Philips intended to continue to use polyester while carrying out “a replacement plan».

Change of boss

On Wednesday, the defense of Philips ensured that “as soon as the risk appeared serious, the group seized the supervisory authorities“. And to add: “It is important to restore what happened, society did not sit idle and just wait.“.

The failed respirator scandal has already cost Philips dearly. The former conglomerate which, in recent years, has refocused on the health and well-being businesses has seen its market capitalization melt by around 30 billion euros since the recall of the ventilators. He also changed bosses. In mid-October, Roy Jakobs succeeded Frans van Houten, whose mandate was cut short because of the ventilator affair. The new CEO has already announced the elimination of 4,000 jobs (out of 80,000) to improve competitiveness.

The scandal is far from over. In France, a hundred patients, including more than a dozen cases of lung cancer, are awaiting the opening of judicial information to file a collective complaint against Philips, advance France Info.



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