DOJ Seeks to Block NECC Depositions

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Federal prosecutors are asking a federal judge to block an effort by a Rhode Island clinic to depose key figures from the now defunct company blamed for a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak.
In a six-page motion filed today in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass., Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan charged that Ocean State Pain Management was "forum shopping" and trying to bypass a previous ruling barring depositions of officials of the New England Compounding Center and a related sales company.
Lawyers for Ocean State have moved to depose Barry Cadden, the convicted former president of the New England Compounding Center, Joseph Connelly, a former NECC employee and NECC's one time sales chief Robert Ronzio. Also on the list is John Notarianni, another sales official employed by Medical Sales Management, an NECC affiliate.
"The court should not sanction the defendant's' forum shopping," the U.S. Attorney's motion states. "The Ocean State defendants are bound by that (prior) ruling."
Ocean State is one of dozens of health facilities that injected patients with  fungus laden steroids purchased from NECC in 2012.
Strachan noted that Ocean State joined in a similar motion filed by attorneys for a Tennessee clinic. That motion was denied.
"The court should not allow them to proceed," the government motion states.
The action comes as the second major defendant in the criminal case stemming from the outbreak is about to go to trial.
Opening arguments are scheduled for Tuesday in the case against Glenn Chin, who was a supervising pharmacist at NECC. He has been charged with racketeering and 25 counts of second degree murder.
Cadden, who is now serving a nine-year prison sentence was convicted of racketeering and mail fraud charges in a 10-week trial ending in March. He was cleared of second degree murder charges.
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