In the UK Louise Mason’s father, David Mason, a successful and wealthy London art dealer, spearheaded the legal fight for proper compensation on behalf of the affected families. Mason didn’t accept the low compensation offer Distillers first made to the Thalidomide children. The drug company required everyone’s signature on the deal before they would pay out any money. David Mason and five other families refused and instead initiated a huge media campaign to secure appropriate payments. Their efforts paid off. In the end Distillers increased their offer tenfold and in 1973 agreed to pay a total of £20 million compensation to British survivors (about $48.5m CDN at the time).

Source: The Guardian, “My thalidomide family: Every time I went home I was a stranger.” August 1, 2014.

Michael Magazanik: Silent Shock. The Men behind the Thalidomide Scandal and an Australian Family’s Long Road to Justice. Melbourne 2015, pp. 285ff.