In the past 24 hours, our law firm has received a number of calls from concerned individuals related to the recent meningitis outbreak.
Right here in Southern New Jersey, over 200 patients received steroid back injections that may have been contaminated. In fact, one local resident has been diagnosed with fungal meningitis and is in the hospital recovering. New Jersey health officials have said as many as 650 people throughout the state received injections of the now recalled medication.
This year, a company in Framingham, Massachusetts, the New England Compounding Center, shipped 17,676 steroid injections for back pain to clinics in 23 states. Some of the injections were contaminated with a fungus that has led to a meningitis outbreak in 10 states, including New Jersey, in which the most recent reports indicate 119 people have been sickened and 11 have died.
Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to the FDA querying the agency about oversight of compounding pharmacies in the wake of the fatal fungal meningitis outbreak. He asked the agency about current regulations and oversight practices that ensure that safety standards met by large drug manufacturing companies are also met by compounding pharmacies. Pharmacy “compounding” accounts for 37 million prescriptions each year.
David G. Miller, executive vice president of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists asks the question: Who the heck at the government level was asleep at the switch? The CDC and FDA said Friday that the investigation into the cause of the outbreak is ongoing.
Someone better get to the bottom of this oversight problem and fast – obviously the system in place is not working and people are now dying as a result.
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Andrew J. D’Arcy is a trial lawyer and partner with the law firm of D’Arcy Johnson Day and is actively investigating claims related to the recent meningitis outbreak. D’Arcy Johnson Day is a premier New Jersey litigation law firm, specializing in all areas of injury-based claims. For more information on this article, or other topics, please call us toll free at 866.327.2952, or visit the firm's web site at www.djdlawyers.com.
As a partner with D'Arcy Johnson Day, Andrew D'Arcy has been involved in some of the nation’s most high-profile cases and investigations. His practice includes serious automobile accidents, medical malpractice, wrongful death and product defect cases. Andrew has been personally responsible for numerous multi-million dollar settlements and verdicts on behalf of his clients. He has been recognized by his peers as an "AV" rated attorney, the highest possible rating given by Martindale-Hubbell publication. Andrew has been named a "Super Lawyer" by New Jersey Monthly magazine each year consistently since 2013.
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