Cadden, Chin Outbreak Hearings Resume

Court report from Donna Borton

An expert from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testified today about the frantic efforts to find the cause of an apparent outbreak of fungal meningitis that suddenly blossomed in Tennessee in the fall of 2012.
Testifying in a pre-trial hearing for two former pharmacists charged with multiple counts of second degree murder, Benjamin Park MD said that while at first the outbreak appeared to be confined to Tennessee, a fourth case in North Carolina signaled that the dimensions of the disaster were not localized but much more widespread.
In some two hours of testimony in Livingston County District Court in Howell, Mich., Park described how his agency needed to find out the source of the outbreak, identify potential victims and determine the best course of treatment as quickly as possible.
Assistant Attorney General Denise Hart asked Park if he thought the outbreak was preventable, but Barry J.Cadden's lawyer objected arguing that Park was not qualified to make that assessment. The objection was overruled.
"These outbreaks can and should be prevented," Park then responded.
Park had already testified in a prior federal trial that the outbreak was "entirely preventable."
The defendants, Cadden and Glen Chin, worked at a now defunct drug compounding firm in Massachusetts which produced thousands of vials of steroids contaminated with deadly fungi. Over 800 patients were sickened in the outbreak and over 100 have died.
Cadden and Chin already are serving federal prison sentences following their conviction on racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud charges. Two federal juries, however, cleared them of second degree murder charges. They are now facing 11 counts of second degree murder brought by the Michigan Attorney General.
Cadden was president and part-owner of the New England Compounding Center and Chin was a supervising pharmacist in the clean room where the deadly steroids were produced.
In earlier testimony Thursday a Michigan pathologist detailed the autopsy findings from five victims of the outbreak.
Jeffrey Jentzen MD acknowledged the five died of complications due to steroid injections and the manner of death was listed on death certificates as accidental, but he noted that the medical definition of the manner of death was not necessarily the legal definition.
James Buttrey, the attorney for defendant Glenn Chin, questioned whether the manner of death finding could be changed after a death certificate has been issued. Jentzen said it could be changed only if there was a medical determination to change it.
Gerald Gleeson, the attorney for Barry J. Cadden questioned Jentzen about a Powerpoint that was put together by the witness and an Indiana colleague, in which the colleague stated that the mold, which caused the deadly outbreak, was an accident.
Jentzen reiterated that there was a difference between the legal and medical definition of accidental.
Earlier in the day Stephanie Stokes from ARL Bio Pharma resumed her testimony from the prior hearing in which she discussed the testing her company did for the New England Compounding Center, the company headed by Cadden and which produced the deadly drugs.
Under questioning by Gleeson, Stokes said that when NECC began sending in many more drug samples to be tested just before the outbreak became public, ARL increased its staff and equipment to meet the demand.
Stokes had testified in another pre-trial session in November. The current hearings will continue Friday and three days next week.
Cadden and Chin already are serving federal prison sentences following their conviction on racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud charges. Two federal juries, however, cleared them of second degree murder charges.
Cadden is serving a nine year federal sentence while Chin was sentenced to eight years.