Daikon company explains claim date

Press, 10 January 1986, Page 1

Daikon company explains claim date

By

CINDY BAXTER,

health reporter Action by New Zealand women’s groups to publicise the Daikon Shield issue here led to the manufacturer, A. H. Robins, Ltd, sending a representative to New Zealand to hold a press conference in Wellington yesterday. New Zealand was one of the only 20 countries, out of the 80 where the intrauterine contraceptive device was used, to benefit from a press conference publicising a new final date for damages claims.

This was because of the high profile the issue had had in New Zealand, said the managing director of A.

H. Robins for Australia, Mr Max Miller.

The publicity on the in-, juries suffered by women using the Daikon Shield has led to there being more claims against the company in New Zealand per head of population than any other country. A. H. Robins has been ordered by a United States court to publicise the new date of April 30 for damages claims from women who were injured by the device.

The company paid for news media representatives from throughout New Zealand to attend Mr Miller’s press conference in Wellington. A film crew was hired to

film the conference as evidence for the Court.

A. H. Robins sought the protection of the bankruptcy court last year after being deluged with about 13,000 lawsuits over the Daikon Shield. A. H. Robins asked the Court to set a deadline for new claims against it involving any of the 2.8 million Daikon Shields distributed in the United States or the 1.7 million distributed overseas.

Mr Miller said he was not in New Zealand to discuss the medical aspects of the Daikon Shield but to publicise the new date.

Any detailed questioning on facts and figures in the company’s history of dealing with the device and its

side effects was avoided by Mr Miller. His reason for the lack of answers and statistics was that all details were at the company’s headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, and questions would have to be referred there.

About 5500 doctors in New Zealand are being issued with notices to post on boards in medical centres, family planning clinics and hospitals advertising the date. Material is being distributed to members of Parliament and women’s groups to extend the publicity. Bulletins for the Welling-

ton, Auckland and Christchurch areas are being circulated in Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Island Maori, Tokelauan and Niuean languages. When questioned on the selection of the 20 countries who would get more than just press releases issued to publicise the date, Mr Miller said that the company had been limited in its spending. There was a maximum of SUSS million which the Court had allowed the company to spend on the campaign, and |US3.B million of that was to be spent on the United States campaign.

Any overspending, said Mr Miller, could be construed as contempt of court. Mr Miller said that the 20. countries had been selected by the Court, but he did not disagree when a New Zealand lawyer acting on behalf of New Zealand women claiming damages, Mr Michael Okkerse, pointed out that A. H. Robins had come up with the plan, which was then approved by the Court. Any woman wanting to make a claim who had not already done so, should send a signed statement, with full name and address to: Daikon Shield, P.O. Box 444,

Richmond, Virginia 23203, U.S.A., said Mr Miller. The women would then receive a questionnaire to fill out for the Court, which would then review the claim and request further details if necessary. Women who had sent in their initial letter should expect to hear back from the Court within a month, he said. It was not yet known how the Court would deal with the cases after that. Mr Okkerse disputed Mr Miller’s statement that a lawyer would not be necessary.

To date, the company had spent more than SUSIOO million in legal fees fighting the claims of injured women, said Mr Okkerse. “In my view, women would be well advised to have the assistance of United States attorneys in seeking to advance a claim,” he said. “United States attorneys acting for New Zealand women will protect the interests of those women in all dealings with the A. H. Robins Company, including the bankcruptcy proceedings,” said Mr Okkerse. A spokeswomen for Fertility Action, one of the women’s groups heading the information network about the Daikon Shield, Ms Sandra Coney, said that although she had been in touch with 300 women wanting to claim damages, there would be more. Within 24 hours of Mr Miller’s Sydney press conference this week, 150 calls from women wanting to

make claims had been received. The group was concerned about how to find out which Pacific Island countries the Daikon Shield had been sold and used in. They said that ,the information was refused them by A. H. Robins. Mr Miller said that all countries in the Pacific Island area would be covered by the campaign, as it was not known where the

device was used in the area. Australia had not distributed the device in the Pacific Islands and the New Zealand distributor, which could have been responsible, had since gone out of business, he said.

Press releases were being sent to the news media and the health departments in the Cook Islands, Tokelau Islands, Tonga, and Nuie, said Mr Miller.