Indiana Meningitis Cases Linger

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

For Jack Pavlekovich the wait has become frustrating and ridiculous.
Eight years after he and dozens of other Indiana patients were injected with contaminated steroids from a Massachusetts drug compounder, suits filed on their behalf are inching their way through the state court system.
Some 70 suits were filed against two Indiana clinics where patients had been injected in the spine with fungus laden methylprednisolone acetate. At least 93 Indiana residents were among the 753 patients nationwide who were sickened in the deadly outbreak. At least 11 Indiana patients died.
Pavlekovich said he had no idea the litigation could drag on all this time. His attorney Douglas Small said that in no other cases he has handled has the process taken this long.
Small said that after several starts and stops the claims of Pavlekovich and dozens of other victims will now be presented to panels of physicians who must decide whether the care provided to the victims deviated from the standard of care and, if so whether those deviations led to the injuries suffered by the victims
"With the decision of the medical review panel, we can return to state court to move forward to a trial setting," Small wrote in an email response to questions.
He said he hoped to have panel decisions in all the pending cases in late summer or fall with trials beginning in 2021 or 2022.
"This is the longest lasting litigation I have ever been involved in," Small said.
Pavlekovich, a former sheriff's detective, said that in the meantime he has been "just trying to hold on."
Like other victims he said he continues to suffer the after effects of the injections and the painful treatment to stop the fungal infections. Now a Wisconsin resident, he said the process has been "way too slow" and he had no idea at the outset that it could last this long.
He also has had to deal with other health issues including recent open heart surgery.
Requests for comment on the litigation from attorneys representing the clinics went unanswered.
Small said that despite some earlier setbacks, plaintiffs attorneys will move for partial summary judgment on the liability issue with the contention that the actions of the local clinics violated state and federal prescription drug laws.
The upcoming medical panels, he said "were an extra hoop to jump through."
Pavlekovich, who was sickened after just two injections, said he ended up agreeing to the steroids after other treatments for a painful back condition failed.
And even should he ultimately succeed in winning an award, he is resigned to the fact that others, including the Medicare program, will be standing in line for a piece of any payment.
That's what already happened when he and other victims got awards from litigation against the New England Compounding Center, the now defunct company that produced the contaminated steroids.
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