Monday, May 30, 2022

Terri Lewis.. The Ever Advocate, Passes Away

Terri Lewis, the ever advocate for victims of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, has passed away from Cancer..
Lewis died Sunday, not long afterbshe was diagnosed with cancer. She has helped hundreds of outbreak victims get needed care even after they had been abandoned by their medical providers..

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

Chin's Michigan Appeal Denied

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The Michigan Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed by a former pharmacist seeking to have multiple second degree murder charges thrown out.
In a one paragraph ruling the state's highest court rejected Chin's claim that there was insufficient evidence for the charges to be presented to a Livingston County jury.
"We are not persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this court," the ruling states. Chin was a supervising pharmacist at a Massachusetts drug compounding firm that shipped thousands of vials of a contaminated steroid to health facilities across the country.
Over 100 patients, including 11 in Michigan, died after injection with the drug ladened with a deadly fungus.
Chin was appealing a decision by the state Court of Appeals which rejected a similar plea to have the murder charges tossed. The case has been bouncing back and forth between the two courts since last year.
The decision means Chin will face the charges before a jury in Livingston County. The case is being prosecuted by the Michigan Attorney General's office.
A parallel appeal has been filed by co-defendant Barry Cadden, who was president and part owner of the same compounding firm, the now defunct New England Compounding Center. Cadden's appeal is still pending.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Chin Seeks 2.5 Year Sentence Reduction

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

The lawyer for a former pharmacist facing a 10.5 year prison term argued today in a federal apppeals court hearing that a U.S. District Court judge erred when he tacked on another 2.5 years to his sentence for racketeering and related charges.
James Sultan, the lawyer for Glenn Chin, the former pharmacist, told a three judge panel that his client had no way of knowing that the drugs he was preparing contained a deadly fungus.
Chin was the supervising pharmacist at the now defunct New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak which ultimately took the lives of more than 100 patients. Arguing in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, Mass., Christopher Looney, representing federal prosecutors, said the outbreak victims represented the very definition of vulnerable victims and the 10.5 year sentence should remain in place.
Looney also argued that Chin clearly knew or should have known that the drugs he was preparing could, if contaminated, lead to death or serious injury.
Sultan, however, stated that Chin had been preparing the same drug, preservative free methyl prednisolone acetate, for years without incident.
Chin and co-defendant Barry J. Cadden, are currently awaiting trial in Livingston County Michigan on multiple charges of second degree murder in the deaths of 11 patients who were injected with the same spinal steroid.
The Michigan Supreme Court yesterday denied Chin's motion to have the second degree murder charges thrown out. (See related story) The 10.5 year sentence was set by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns after the same appeals court concluded that the original eight year sentence set by Stearns was too lenient. But in today's hearing Looney was asked whether Stearns might have over-read their prior ruling.
Looney responded stating that Chin was aware of the risks involved in injecting drugs into a patient's spinal column.
He cited the trial testimony of a former NECC employee who recounted a conversation he had with Chin in which the risks of such injections were discussed.
Following 45 minutes of arguments, the panel took the case under advisement.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com