By Tim McLaughlin and Bill
Berkrot | Reuters – 45 mins ago
BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Executives at the Boston-area pharmacy whose steroid shots have been linked to a
deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak have been sued in a
bid to freeze their personal assets, while the death toll in the scandal rose to
21, with 268 cases of infection reported.
Peter McGrath, a lawyer who is a former
federal prosecutor, said he was spearheading a civil case that blames
Massachusetts-based NECC and company officers Barry and Lisa Cadden and Greg Conigliaro for the
tainted drugs. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of an unnamed plaintiff in
Middlesex County Superior Court in suburban Boston, court records show.
"We want to pierce the corporate veil and
go after the individuals," McGrath said Friday in a telephone interview.
Fourteen new cases of fungal meningitis in
patients who received the contaminated shots for back pain were reported on
Friday, bringing the total to 268, and the death toll rose by one to 21, the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
There were four new cases reported in both
Michigan and Florida, one each in Indiana, Ohio and Virginia, and three in
Tennessee, which has been the hardest hit of the 16 states with confirmed cases.
The latest death was in Michigan, its fifth.
There have also been three cases of
peripheral infections from injections into joints.
Florida Surgeon General John Armstrong said
NECC would no longer be allowed to do business in the state.
"The company will cease to operate as a
pharmacy in our state, immediately," Armstrong said. "Further, the NECC may
never re-apply for a pharmacy permit in the state of Florida."
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