fraudulent prescriptions. Mr. Cadden submitted them to the pharmacy
board, describing them as "300 patient-specific ... prescriptions ...
retained per NECC's standard operating procedure."
That May, the indictment says, in infected Clean Room 1, Mr. Chin
mixed up 12.5 liters of preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate 80
mg/ml. He autoclaved it for 15 minutes and 4 seconds, without a biolog-
ic indicator. Mr. Chin then sent a 5 ml vial to an independent lab for
testing. In early June, the lab sent back a report indicating the sample
was sterile. Mr. Chin repeated the process in late June and early August
with 2 more lots, yielding almost 10,000 more vials. The Massachusetts
Board of Pharmacy projected that the 17,676 total doses were distrib-
uted to more than 14,000 patients in 23 states. Only 3,000 doses were
quarantined or returned through recall. NECC would send more than
5,000 of the vials to 9 surgery centers in 7 states.
Fungal meningitis
Eddie Lovelace, 78, was the circuit judge for Tennessee counties.
He was also a popular Sunday school teacher. In March, 2012, he
was involved in a car accident that injured his lumbar and cervical
spine. Physical therapy didn't provide enough relief, so he was
referred to the St. Thomas Neurosurgical Outpatient Center in
Nashville for pain injections. St. Thomas had recently purchased
2,000 vials of contaminated methylprednisone acetate from NECC.
Judge Lovelace received his third injection on Aug. 31. On Sept. 11, his
hand felt numb and he had a headache. The next morning, his legs
wouldn't work. He was admitted to Vanderbilt Hospital, where, less than
a week later, he died. On Sept. 21, the Tennessee Department of Health
called the Centers for Disease Control to report the case. An autopsy
had confirmed fungus in the central spinal fluid.
Three days later, late in the evening, Tennessee officials notified the
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