Framingham Pharmacy Hit With Lawsuits From 6 States

In total, more than a half dozen lawsuits in six states have been filed against New England Compounding Center, which has been linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak in America.

As of Wednesday, 19 people have died and almost 250 people have developed fungal meningitis after being injected with a steroid linked to NECC.

Tuesday, a day when several of the lawsuits were filed, federal agents raided the Waverly Street specialty pharamcy.

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A Minnesota woman was the first to file a lawsuit, linked to the national fungal meningitis outbreak, against a specialty Framingham pharamacy.

Last week, Barbe Puro, on behalf of Minnesota patients strickened with fungal meningitis, filed a lawsuit against NECC.

The suit seeks compensation for the sale of the “defective and dangerously contaminated steroid” by New England Compounding Center, a unit of New England Compounding Pharmacy, which has caused Puro and others “bodily harm, emotional distress, other personal injuries, and to incur medical and other expenses,” according to the complaint filed Oct. 11. Puro’s lawyers also seek class-action, or group, status to represent others affected by the contaminated steroids, reported Business Week.

This week, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Michigan residents sickened by tainted steroid injections that are believed responsible for a fungal meningitis outbreak that has led to at least three deaths in the state.

The federal lawsuit against the NECC was filed on behalf of Brenda Bansale of Howell, who was diagnosed with fungal meningitis after being injected with the contaminated steroid. The lawsuit is open to any Michigan resident who received or was exposed to injections of the contaminated drug, reported The Detroit Free Press.

Also this week, a Florida woman filed a lawsuit claiming negligence and strict liability. Vlinda York, 62, went to a painmanagment center for two steroid injections in August, due manage back pain resulting from a car crash. On Sept. 27, just days before the nationwide meningitis outbreak was confirmed, she spent more than a week in intensive care and is receiving treatment for fungal meningitis, reported Central Florida News13.

Also this week, two New Jersey residents, Jennifer Marko and Brian Pennington, filed lawsuits, although neither has a confirmed case of meningitis.

The widow of the first meningitis outbreak victim filed a lawsuit against NECC also on Tuesday. Tennessee resident Colette Rybinski, whose husband, Thomas, died on Sept. 29 after being injected on July 30, is asking for $15 million in damages.

And Robert and Janet Russell of Tennessee are seeking $15 million for Mrs. Russell’s stroke, disfigurement, and permanent disability, reported insurancejournal.com.

And the latest lawsuit filed was by Basil Proffitt, 80, of Virginia. He filed a $5 million lawsuit against NECC after becoming infected on Sept. 12.