Attorney Fred Pritzker recently won over $40,000,000 for clients injured by an unsafe medical product. Now he and his Bad Bug Law Team are representing patients who had epidural injections containing a steroid product recalled for possible contamination with fungus that was sent to 23 states, including Indiana. Fred can be contacted for a free consultation here regarding a meningitis lawsuit.
Indiana has been hit hard by the meningitis outbreak linked to epidural injections of steroid products made by New England Compounding Center (NECC), a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy. To date, the CDC has confirmed 24 cases of meningitis in Indiana, one of them the wrongful death of a patient who had the injection in Indiana but lived in another state. The CDC case counts for each state are based on where the injections occurred, not where the person lived.
We expect many more cases of meningitis and stroke in Indiana. Other deaths may also be linked to contaminated NECC steroid products. According to the South Bend Tribune:
The family of an 89-year-old Cass County, Mich. woman said Thursday they believe she died of fungal meningitis after receiving two injections of the tainted drug at OSMC Outpatient Surgery Center in Elkhart.
Lisa Ann Durbin says her grandmother Pauline Burema of Cassopolis died Wednesday at a daughter’s home in Bristol.
Durbin says the family is waiting for autopsy results to confirm the cause of death. However, doctors told the family they believe Burema had contracted meningitis from shots she received Aug. 22 and Sept. 8 at OSMC. Durbin says Burema was found unconscious in her home Oct. 3.
It is amazing that in the midst of a family’s grief they can think of other victims of this outbreak. Lisa Ann Durbin told the Chesterton Tribune that the family decided to donate her grandmother’s body for research:
“What our family is hoping is that they can find a cure to maybe help out all the other patients so that not everybody has to die,” she said.
Six health care facilities in Indiana are known to have received some of the three lots of methylprednisolone acetate made by NECC that have been linked to the meningitis outbreak. The facilities are:
- Ambulatory Care Center, LLP; Evansville
- Ft. Wayne Physical Medicine; Ft. Wayne
- OSMC Outpatient Surgery Center; Elkhart
- South Bend Clinic; South Bend
- Union Hospital; Terre Haute
- Wellspring; Columbus
The three lots of NECC steroid medication, listed below, that were used on infected patients have been recalled:
- Methylprednisolone Acetate (PF) 80 mg/ml Injection, Lot #05212012@68, BUD 11/17/2012
- Methylprednisolone Acetate (PF) 80 mg/ml Injection, Lot #06292012@26, BUD 12/26/2012
- Methylprednisolone Acetate (PF) 80 mg/ml Injection, Lot #08102012@51, BUD 2/6/2013
Patients who have had any injection (e.g., spinal, joint) using any of the three lots of methylprednisolone acetate listed above (an estimated 1568 people) have been contacted by the facility in which they received it. Patients who have received a steroid injection since May 21, 2012, and are experiencing symptoms such as a new or worsening headache, fever, neck stiffness or pain at the injection site, should contact their physician to determine if they have received one of the recalled products and also contact Fred and his team regarding a lawsuit against NECC.
