The attorney general in Michigan is seeking criminal charges against a now-bankrupt Massachusetts medical company that has been linked to hundreds of meningitis cases around the nation.
At least 14 have died from the disease and another 259 infected in Michigan alone, said Attorney General Bill Schuette, in a CNN report. Nationally, meningitis outbreaks linked to the New England Compounding Center have led to the deaths of 51 and infections of 730, in 20 different states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Mr. Schuette has filed with his state’s Court of Appeals, seeking a grand jury investigation into the company to determine if it broke state laws by sending out “tainted steroid injections to patients at clinics in four Michigan counties,” he said, CNN reported. That filing follows a federal criminal investigation into the company that opened last year.
Company officials, who filed for bankruptcy protection in December, did not respond in the CNN report.
The Detroit Free Press reports the company has bragged to customers about its clean practices in its Quality Assurance Report Card that was distributed yearly. At the same time, this is not the first time New England Compounding Center has faced fire for cleanliness issues.
In 2004, for instance, the company was sued over the 2002 death of an 83-year-old man who received a shot and contracted bacterial meningitis shortly after, The Detroit Free Press reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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