PARIS (Reuters) – The Paris Prosecutor’s Office has opened a preliminary investigation into a respiratory devices recall by Dutch medical device maker Philips, French media outlet France Info reported on Thursday.
The Prosecutor’s Office could not immediately be reached for comment. A Philips spokesperson could not immediately confirm the report or comment.
Philips began a major international recall of ventilators and sleep apnea machines in 2021 due to a foam part that might degrade and become toxic, potentially causing cancer.
The company is halfway through replacing around 5.5 million of the devices, mostly in the United States, where it is in talks with the U.S. Department of Justice over a settlement.
There were 370,000 devices in France when they were recalled and only a third of them have been replaced by Philips, according to the France Info report.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Toby Sterling; Editing by Edmund Blair)
