Attorney Fred Pritzker recently won over $40 million for clients injured by a defective product. He is now investigating the fungal meningitis outbreak associated with epidural steroid injection medication made by the New England Compounding Center (NECC), a compounding pharmacy located in MA. At least 5 cases of fungal meningitis in Minnesota (all the Twin Cities area) are confirmed by the CDC as part of the outbreak. Minnesota Surgery Center in Edina and Maple Grove and MAPS clinics received some of the implicated NECC epidural steroid injection medication, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
Contact Fred for a free consultation here and talk with him or an attorney on his Bad Bug Law Team about a meningitis lawsuit.
Fred and his team have filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Minnesota woman and will be filing more in the near future. Fred is not having his clients participate in a meningitis outbreak class action lawsuit for many reasons. You can ask him about this when you contact him.
Fungal Meningitis and Stroke from Steroid Injections
Many of the victims of the fungal meningitis outbreak also had strokes that are believed to have resulted from their fungal infection. The two identified fungi are Aspergillus and Exserohilum.
All infected patients received injection with preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate prepared by NECC. The lots are:
- 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
NECC initially just recalled these 3 lots, but later recalled all of the company’s products. Additional cases of fungal infection have been associated with other NECC products.
Infected patients have presented approximately one to four weeks following their injection with a variety of symptoms including: fever, new or worsening headache, nausea, and/or new neurological deficit (consistent with deep brain stroke). Some of these patients’ symptoms were very mild in nature. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) obtained from these patients has typically shown elevated white cell count (with a predominance of neutrophils), low glucose, and elevated protein.
