Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Contempt motion filed in meningitis outbreak

Written by
Walter F. Roche Jr.
The Tennessean
Oct. 15, 2013  


The trustee in the bankruptcy case of a Massachusetts drug compounding firm is asking a federal judge to find five health-care facilities, including two in California, in contempt of court for failing to disclose the names of possible victims of a fatal fungal meningitis outbreak.
The contempt motion filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Massachusetts Tuesday charges that the health facilities have refused to comply despite an Aug. 13 deadline.
The motion filed on behalf of Bankruptcy Trustee Paul D. Moore and a committee of unsecured creditors charges that the delay in response means that victims have several weeks less time to respond and file claims. The judge in the case has set a deadline of Jan. 15, 2014, for filing claims.
The facilities all received potentially tainted spinal steroids from the New England Compounding Center, the now-shuttered company blamed for the fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed 54 patients, including 16 who were treated in Tennessee.
Named in the motion were the two California facilities, Encino Outpatient Surgicenter in Encino and the Ukiah Valley Medical Center in Ukiah. The New Jersey facilities are Comprehensive Pain Management in Sparta, Edison Surgical Center in Edison and IF Pain Associates in Teaneck.

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