14 Charged for Roles in Meningitis Outbreak

BY DENISE LAVOIE
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors say the indictment of 14 people in connection with a meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people nationwide is the largest criminal case ever brought in the U.S. over contaminated medicine.

During a news conference Wednesday to announce the indictments, prosecutors said some employees of the New England Compounding Pharmacy showed an “extreme and appalling indifference to human life.”

Barry Cadden, a co-founder of the pharmacy, and Glenn Adam Chin, a pharmacist, were hit with the most serious charges in a racketeering indictment, accused of causing the deaths of patients in several states.

More than 750 people in 20 states were sickened and 64 died after they contracted meningitis and other infections from tainted steroids made by the company.