October 11, 2012
The recent outbreak of fungal Meningitis that swept across the United States may not be the first contamination issue for the Massachusetts manufacturer of the tainted shots. Eyewitness 11 News says the company faced a lawsuit in 2004 over the death of an 83-year-old man from Meningitis he contracted through a contaminated injection.
On July 17, 2002, the victim received an injection that was manufactured at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts. The shot was contaminated with bacterial Meningitis and the victim died of the Drug Injury a year and a half later.
The facility also may have been producing medications on a scale not allowed by its state license. Yesterday, Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, announced the company was only allowed to fill individual prescriptions for a specific type and amount of drug, but instead may have been acting more as a large-scale manufacturer and distributor by shipping the medications in mass quantities as stock to medical facilities across state lines.
In the meantime, the company that owns the compounding facility responsible for the recent outbreak has ceased operations at all of its plants and is fully cooperating with investigators.
The North Carolina Personal Injury Lawyers with HensonFuerst Injury Lawyers believe drug manufacturers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of products they put on the market and are here to help if were injured by a prescription medication or other treatment.