Nashville Clinic Files $1 Billion Claim Against A Framingham Company

A Nashville clinic where dozens of patients were injected with fungus-tainted steroids has filed a $1.17 billion claim in the bankruptcy case of the Framingham company that produced the drug, reported the Tennessean.

Lawyers for the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center filed the claim in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston in the pending case of the New England Compounding Center, the firm blamed by state and federal officials for a fatal nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak.

Chris Tardio, one of the Saint Thomas lawyers, told the daily newspaper in Tennessee, the clinic had no choice but to file a claim because of the dozens of suits filed against the clinic itself.

The Nashville clinic claim is one of thousands that have been filed against Framingham-based NECC before a court-ordered deadline, totaling much more than the $100 million that officials involved in the bankruptcy have said may be available. 

The Tennessee Health Department and the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy have filed a $10 million claim.

Nationwide, the outbreak has killed 64 patients and infected 751individuals. Only Michigan, with 264 patients sickened and 19 killed, has more individuals affected than Tennessee.