Because the fungal meningitis outbreak was so catastrophic in terms of lives lost and pain needlessly suffered, it was only a matter of time before survivors began to seek remuneration from the parties responsible. Not only are the owners of the compounding pharmacy being sued, many of the physicians who administered the tainted shots are also facing litigation.
While it cannot be denied that the blame for the fungal meningitis disaster lays at the feet of a compounding pharmacy that flouted not only governmental regulations, but also basic pharmaceutical practices of health, safety and due diligence, many patients are nonetheless beginning to wonder if the clinics that administered the tainted shots shouldn’t bear some responsibility as well.
The entire matter is extremely delicate. While it is true that the New England Compounding Center was woefully inept at maintaining an environment suitable for the production of an extremely delicate and difficult to manufacture drug, the Massachusetts regulatory boards did little, if anything to oversee or police their practices. The NECC was inspected several times by the FDA as well as state board officials, who issued warnings and concerns that were completely ignored, and yet the regulatory bodies did nothing to follow up on those warnings, leaving thousands of patients in jeopardy.
One of the main reasons compounding pharmacies distribute so many vials of epidural steroid is because many physicians believe in the studies that report of the dangers of using injectable drugs that contain preservatives. While there are many conflicting studies regarding the potential hazards of preservatives in injectable applications, the crux of the objection to the commonly used pharmaceutical preservatives is that they may trigger outbreaks of arachnoiditis, an incurable inflammation of the arachnoid membrane which surrounds the spinal column. This condition is painful, chronic, has debilitating side effects, and requires more or less constant pain management therapy and treatment. Injectable steroids that do not contain preservatives can only be obtained through compounding pharmacies, not FDA regulated drug companies
Medical Negligence such as this is unforgivable. I dread to think about the people that have suffered because of the substandard care received by the so-called medical professionals!
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