Trustee Reports $149.4 Million Going to Victims

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A total of $149.4 million has been approved for payment to victims of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, according to a report filed today in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass.
Lynne F. Riley, who is in charge of overseeing the distributions, also reported that action has been taken on all 2,353 claims filed. All appeals have been resolved and payments to 2,026 have been fully or partially approved.
According to her four-page report, 284 claims were fully denied, 41 were determined to be invalid and two were withdrawn.
The funds stem from the bankruptcy of the New England Compounding Center, the now defunct Framingham, Mass. firm blamed for the outbreak. Funds are also being distributed through Riley from a settlement agreement with a Virginia clinic where victims were injected with fungus riddled methylprednisolone acetate.
Riley wrote that 237 initial checks have been distributed to victims who were injected at Insight Imaging, theVirginia firm that reached a settlement agreement. She reported that 165 of those Insight victims also received a second check.
Riley is not in charge of other clinic settlements including those reached with two Tennessee clinics where victims were injected with contaminated steroids. Payments from those settlements are being distributed separately.
The 2012 outbreak sickened at least 778 patients. Seventy-six of them died.
Riley also reported that the approved claims have also been submitted to federal and state agencies who can seek to recoup money they paid for the care of the victims.
Riley wrote that as of Friday, 1,884 victims have received a first check, while 1,857 of those have also received a second payment.
Checks for another 142 victims will be released once they or their attorneys submit needed documentation. She stated that 87 of that 142 have claims of less than $3,000.
Riley has indicated that a third smaller payment will be distributed at a later date after tax issues relating to NECC's owners are finally resolved.

Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com