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S T E R O I D S
tum, common in dirt and grasses. At press time, 24 of those patients
have died from so-called "black mold meningitis," which is extremely
hard to diagnose and to kill. Those numbers are expected to rise. And
pain medicine will never be the same for the 76 facilities that received
contaminated vials of steroids from a now-closed Massachusetts compounding pharmacy whose shoddy and unsanitary practices health officials say are responsible for the meningitis outbreak.
The New England Compounding Center (NECC), the specialty pharmacy at the center of the outbreak, last month recalled all products
currently in circulation that were compounded at and distributed from
its Framingham, Mass., facility. Massachusetts officials have begun a
criminal investigation into NECC. Unsanitary conditions that included
black specks of fungus in steroids made at the facility are among the
many infractions state inspectors say they found at NECC. Twenty
miles away at New England Pain Care in Peabody, Helen Brownlie,
RN, the director of nursing, is breathing a huge sigh of relief.
"We're fortunate we're not a client," says Ms. Brownlie. "Patients are
petrified, and I don't blame them. We've had to spend a lot of time
assuring patients that we've never used a compounding pharmacy. I
feel horrible for the other facilities that got their drugs from [NECC]."
While Ms. Brownlie is assuring her patients that New England Pain
Care doesn't use compounded steroids, pain centers that got contaminated steroid shots made by NECC are telling patients to watch for
meningitis symptoms for months.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | N O V E M B E R 2012
