According to the Roanoke Times, two Roanoke Valley, Virginia residents have filed suit in Roanoke Circuit Court after developing fungal meningitis from tainted steroid injections. Both were treated with injections for chronic back pain at Insight Imaging in Roanoke in September.
One suit is against New England Compounding Center in Framingham, MA, the pharmacy that manufactured the shot, and Insight Imaging stating that both companies supplied the bad product. The other suit is against New England Compound Center for negligence and violation of state and federal regulations, specifically in the company’s use of the steroid methylprednisolone acetate.
Federal officials believe that the contaminated medication has killed 19 people and infected 247 others. Of these cases, 2 deaths and 41 illnesses occurred in Virginia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. According to the Associated Press, similar state and federal suits have been filed in New Jersey, Minnesota and Tennessee. Investigators have been able to link three batches of the shots made by New England Compounding to the outbreak, including evidence that the medicine may have been tainted with fungus. 14,000 people are believed to have received this drug.
