'Historic' victory for Spanish Thalidomide victims
Thursday, November 21, 2013 @ 11:26 AM
THALIDOMIDE victims who have been fighting for decades to get compensation have won an historic victory against German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal.
Although thousands of Spaniards were born with deformations due to their mothers having taken the drug Thalidomide whilst pregnant to help with morning sickness, only 23 have been recognised by the government.
They have been awarded 20,000 euros per percentage of their disability.
To be registered disabled in Spain, a person normally has to be 33 per cent incapacitated, or 66 per cent to be officially considered as severely disabled.
This means members of the Thalidomide victims' association AVITE will receive a minimum of 660,000 euros each.
AVITE's chairman José Riquelme says the verdict is 'historic' because it is the 'first time in the world' that a group of ordinary citizens has 'brought down a pharmaceutical empire'.
He calls it a tribute to their mothers and says: “We have regained some of the dignity which we should never have had to have lost, but which we lost before we were born.”
The compensation will only be paid to the 23 recognised victims, but anyone who is not among these and feels they have a valid claim should attend a court for a medical examination to certify their condition.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com