Qld woman told to wait one year for appointment to remove recalled breast implants

A 34-year-old woman with recalled breast implants says she will have to wait for up to a year to meet with a specialist to have them removed.

A Queensland woman has been told she will have to wait for as long as a year before a specialist is available to advise her whether her breast-implants, which have been nationally recalled, have potentially given her cancer and can be removed.

Danielle* of Hervey Bay, received TSF-450 implants in November 2015. The Therapeutic Goods Administration issued a recall of these implants in October last year due to a link to a rare type of cancer called Breast Implant Associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma.

While authorities say the risk of the cancer is low, and that explant surgery poses a greater risk, as recently as last week Victorian health authorities urged women who noticed “swelling caused by fluid around the implant, as well as pain, rashes or lumps” to seek treatment immediately.

Danielle, of Hervey Bay, spent a week in hospital in February after a host of problems linked to her breast implants developed. Picture: Supplied via NCA NewsWire

After a traumatic week-long stint in Hervey Bay Hospital in February after developing BIA-ALCA symptoms of skin sores, lumps, heat, swelling and arm immobility, Danielle was told no Queensland Health specialist was available to meet with her to discuss testing for the cancer and potential removal of her implants for a year.

She told NCA NewsWire she feels let down by a system that was designed to protect her, despite Queensland Health having a treatment pathway designed to support women with the recalled implants.

A Queensland Health spokesman said patients in this system were prioritised “according to clinical need”.

“We sympathise with any Queenslander in need of medical treatment,” the spokesman said.

“If a patient feels their situation has changed or they have any concerns, they should visit their GP for reassessment”.

When she was admitted to hospital, Danielle had an oozing sore on her right breast that was treated with IV antibiotics. Pictured is it healing. Picture: Supplied via NCA NewsWire

Danielle first noticed her symptoms in February. At a doctor’s visit on February 2, she was given a course of antibiotics for a sore on her right breast and told to go to the hospital if it didn’t improve.

When she lost the ability to move her arm later that day, she and her partner went to Hervey Bay Hospital.

“I was admitted to hospital on February 3 … They booked me in for an MRI, but the machine was too busy so I didn’t get that until the 5th,” she told NCA NewsWire.

“After that they told me I could go home and wait for my results, but I was still in a lot of pain and my breast had swollen so much … I stayed to get my pain under control.”

She told NCA NewsWire days after she had first made staff aware of her sore, she was given IV antibiotics four times a day for a week but noticed little to no improvement.

She says she had also told staff when she was admitted that her breast implants were the problematic, recalled model. When combined with her family history of cancer, Danielle asked to be transferred to Brisbane, a request she said was “repeatedly” knocked back.

A rash appeared on Danielle’s face and neck last year which she believes is linked to her implants, having never had skin issues until other symptoms appeared. Picture: Supplied via NCA NewsWire

Danielle said Queensland Health staff told her that there would be an aspiration on the fluid in her breast to find out whether it was related to BIA-ALCL, but there was no procedure until seven days after she presented.

“By then the fluid had moved or gone … So (the staff) told (me and my partner) I was fine and would follow up later,” Danielle said.

Danielle’s partner said they left the hospital with “no answers and no real explanation”, and at a follow up appointment with the Breast Clinic a week later, she was given a referral to a specialist at the Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital and put on a category three wait list to “meet with a surgeon to discuss explain surgery.”

“We were told that it could take at least a year to meet with the surgeon,” her partner said.

Danielle and her partner were told they could elect to go through the private system if they wanted surgery earlier than was “clinically recommended”, but the pair said they were not in a financial position to take that option.

“We had more faith in Queensland health … We thought that due to the nature of the problem, links to cancer, family history and the impacts it has on her daily life and mental health that we may have had better news from Queensland Health,” he said.

“This situation is taking a critical toll on Danielle’s mental health. We are left feeling forgotten and that her situation is not being taken seriously.”

The couple have since set up a GoFundMe, asking people to help them have the implants removed and reconstructed at a private clinic, so that Danielle can “regain life again without pain”.