$15 million in Grant Funds to be Returned

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Some $15 million or nearly a quarter of a $40 million grant earmarked for victims of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak will be returned to the federal government in the next few days when the final deadline for claims passes.
Officials of the Massachusetts Attorney General's office, which has been administering the program say the unused money must be returned on Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year. The grant came from a U.S. Justice Department program to benefit crime victims.
The Massachusetts program was established to assist patients who were sickened by contaminated drugs produced by the New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass. The 2012 outbreak sickened hundreds and over 100 have died.
According to data from Attorney General Maura Healey's office some $23 million has been distributed to some 640 victims while 103 claims have been denied. The number of denied claims is likely to rise during the last few days of the program.
Some twenty victims have had claims approved since July, apparently as a result of a final outreach effort to contact all possible victims.
Under the program eligible victims qualified for an initial grant of $25,000. An additional $25,000 was available to survivors of those who died in the outbreak and those who suffered a permanent disability.
A federal criminal probe of NECC resulted in the 2014 indictment of 14 people with ties to NECC. Three of the 14 are now serving federal prison sentences.
Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia were among the hardest hit in the 2012 outbreak.
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