Most Final Victims' Checks Sent Out

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Nearly all of the final checks to victims of the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak have been sent out, according to the attorney in charge of the distributions.
Lynne Riley, the administrator, said today that over 94 per cent of the checks have been sent. Most of those checks were sent to attorneys representing outbreak victims.
Riley said the remaining checks were being held due to unresolved liens against the payments.
"There are a minimal number of claims that have still not cleared liens, and those will be sent when claimants and lienholders resolve those liens," Riley wrote in an email response to questions.
Many outbreak victims have reported that checks have been sent either to them directly or to their attorneys.
Those liens have been filed by the Medicare program, insurance companies and other parties. Most of the victims will also have to share a portion of the final payment with their lawyers.
While some have reported that the final payments are about equal to the first two, most have reported the final checks were smaller than the previous two.
The total final distribution was an estimated $11.5 million and is going to some 2,000 claimants.
The funds are the final chuck of a multimillion dollar settlement with the owners of the now defunct New England Compounding Center, the company blamed for the deadly outbreak. The company shipped out thousands of vials of a steroid contaminated with a deadly fungus.
Over a hundred patients have died after being injected in the spines and joints with NECC's methylprednisolone acetate. Some more 700 were sickened. The bankruptcy settlement is seperate from up to $82 million that federal prosecutors are seeking to extract from former NECC owners and affiliates who were convicted in the criminal cases stemming from the outbreak.
A hearing on the proposed restitution is scheduled for July 7 in U.S. District Court in Boston, Mass. Prosecutors say that money would go to 379 victims.
Riley said that those final checks from the bankruptcy settlement will be sent out as soon as she is notified that any outstanding liens have been resolved.
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