Trial to Begin in 25 Outbreak Deaths

 

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BAXTER, KARINA

Age 56, of Burton (formerly of Grand Blanc), died Sunday, September 23, 2012. Memorial services will be held at 3:00 P.M. Saturday, September 29, 2012 at Bristol Road Church of Christ, 1315 W. Bristol Rd, Flint, with dinner to follow. Minister Dr. Brian Stogner will officiate. Those desiring may make contributions to P.A.W.S. Rescue of Swartz Creek (www.pawsanimalrescue.org). Karina was born November 10, 1955 in Flint. She graduated from Grand Blanc High School in 1973 and was recruited to work for Chevrolet Motors shortly thereafter. She left Chevrolet to begin a family in 1981 and later earned a B.A. in Mathematics and with teaching certifications in Mathematics and Science from the University of Michigan-Flint in 2001. She loved teaching, tutoring, cars and helping those in need, whether they were human, furred or feathered. She is survived by her three children, Anita, Andrew and Brian Baxter; their father, Kenneth Baxter; her mother, Margaret Newberry; brother, Gary Michael; close friends, Cathy Hyrman and Mike Joslin; and her many beloved pets. She was preceded in death by her father, Clare Mintline and her brother, David Mintline.

- See more at: http://obits.mlive.com/obituaries/flint/obituary.aspx?pid=160127069#sthash.0N06Pg65.dpuf

By Walter F. Roche Jr.


They came from six different states and ranged in age from 47 to 89. There were 25 in all and they all died after being injected with a drug that was supposed to relieve their pain.
Beginning this week the trial will begin for one of two Massachusetts men charged with second degree murder in all 25 deaths.
Jury selection begins Wednesday in the trial of Barry Cadden, chief pharmacist and part owner of the New England Compounding Center, the Framingham, Mass. firm that shipped the fatal fungus tainted drugs to health providers in 20 states.
Cadden's lawyers already have conceded that NECC drugs killed the 25 patients, but he denies any responsibility. His co-defendant, Glen Chin, has disputed the assertion that the victims died from NECC drugs and will be tried separately.
The 25 named victims were not the only ones to die. Fifty-four  other victims died out of the total 778 who were sickened. Federal prosecutors however, narrowed the field to 25 when crafting the 131 count 73-page indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in late 2014.
Some of the 25 already had been identified as outbreak victims, but others had not. Here are just some.
                                                             The Victims
Pauline Burema, a Michigan resident, died on October 10 of 2012. She was 89 and left three sons and two daughters. 
For years she worked as a volunteer at a local hospital. According to her obituary, she died at her daughter's home.
"She loved her dog Lucky and would help anyone who needed help," her obituary states.
Nearly a month earlier, Douglas Wingate, a resident of Salem, Va. died at the age of 49. He was a longtime employee of Pepsi Cola and left his wife and two daughters.
Two days before Wingate died, Brenda Rozek, a Maryland resident, passed away. Her death on Sept. 16, 2012, was the earliest listed in the federal indictment.
Just a day after Rozek, Eddie Lovelace a Kentucky judge who had travelled to Nashville, Tenn.   to be injected with methylprednisolone acetate also passed away. It was only after Lovelace body was exhumed that his family learned that he too was a victim of the outbreak.
Godwin Mitchell, 88, a resident of Reddick, Fla. died on March 18, 2013. Born in the West Indies, Mitchell left his wife, five sons and four daughters.
He was active in the Shiloh SDA Church serving as an elder and Sunday School Teacher.
Donald F. McDavid, 67, died on Nov. 4, 2012. A veteran employee of the Florida Department of Corrections, McDavid turned to raising horses in Rockwood, Tenn. in his retirement. He left his wife and three children.
Karina Baxter, died on Sept. 23, 2012. She worked for General Motors for several years, before leaving to raise a family. She took time out from her household duties long enough to earn a B.A. degree in mathematics and then embarked on a teaching career.
Carol Wetton, a Guthrie Ky resident, was 71 when she died on April 16, 2013. Of the 25 victims named in the indictment, she was the last to die. Wetton, who was injected at Nashville's Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center, had sought the injection in hopes of putting off surgery for severe back problems.
But soon after her Sept. 17 injection she became ill. Like Loveless, she had traveled from Kentucky to Nashville in hopes for relief. Almost seven months to the day later, she died.
Cadden's trial will begin Wednesday with jury selection. Opening statements will come next week under the schedule set by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, a former federal prosecutor.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Named Victims and Dates of Death

Michigan: Karina Baxter (9/23/12), Paula Brent (11/17/12), Gayle Gipson (10/26/12), Donna Kruzich (10/8/12), Lynn Lapierre  10/17/12), Mary Pletti (8/23/12), Sally Roe (10/18/12), Emma Todd

Tennessee: Marie Hester (11/1/12), Eddie Lovelace (9/17/12), Donald McDavid (11/4/12), Diana Reed (10/3/12) , Thomas Rybinski (9/29/12), Carol Wetton (4/16/13), Earline Williams (10/15/12)

Indiana: Pauline Burema (10/10/12), Kathy Dillon (11/5/12), Alice Machowiak (12/10/12)

Maryland: Bahman Kashi (1/28/13), Brenda Rozek (9/16/12), Edna Young (12/31/12)

Virginia: Kathy Sinclair (1/9/13), Douglas Wingate (9/18/12)

Florida: Godwin Mitchell (3/18/13)

North Carolina: Elwina Shaw (10/19/12)