By Walter F. Roche Jr.
The attorney for a former pharmacist charged with second degree murder says the contamination of drugs with deadly fungi was inadvertent and the prosecution failed to identify a specific act that caused the deaths.
In an 11-page filing with the Michigan Supreme Court the lawyer for Barry J. Cadden asked the state's high court to reverse the decision of lower courts that there was sufficient evidence to bring the 11 second degree murder charges before a jury.
Stating that the drugs which caused the deaths were "inadvertently contaminated", Gerald Gleeson, Cadden's lawyer, said that Cadden didn't compound the deadly drugs and rarely, if ever even went into the clean room where they were prepared.
The filing was in response to prosecution arguments that there is sufficient evidence to allow the case to go forward. Prosecutors have charged that Cadden not only knew of the unsafe practices but in some cases ordered them.
Cadden and co-defendant Glenn Chin were charged with the deaths of 11 patients who died after being injected with drugs from the New England Compounding Center. The now defunct company has been named as the cause of a 2012 fungal meningtis outbreak which ultimately took the lives of more than 100 patients.
Cadden was president and part owner of NECC while Chin was a supervising pharmacist overseeing a clean room.
As Gleeson noted, it was Chin who prepared the methylprednisolone acetate that caused the deadly outbreak.
Arguing that prosecutors from the state Attorney General's office failed to identify "a discernable causal act" by Cadden leading to the contaminaton, the brief states that instead they "daisy chained" a series of "reasonable inferences."
"The charges should be dismissed," the filing asserts adding that at worst the evidence might justify a charge of negligence.
"It was Glenn Chin who did all of these things," the brief coninues, adding that the lack of direct evidence against Cadden was "deeply problematic."
The brief also questions whether Cadden could be held responsible because of his position and ownership interest in NECC.
"The state has identified nothing even close" to meeting the needed evidence for second degree murder charges, the filing concludes.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com
I’m sure this case is no different then many, but it sure is amazing how flippant some of the defenses amazing ideas, comments, are that they just toss out there.
ReplyDeleteInadvertent; deciding to blend medications next to, and sharing the same ventilation as the junkyard, recycle next door, or careless ?
Daisy chained; sounds like something from “69”
Casual act; sitting in on meetings explaining the sustained increase in profits.
All in the hopes something sticks.
Then if you want to know about crazy, try and find out if the forms you completed where the correct forms, for involvement in the criminal settlement. Or emails don’t work, phone calls unreturned. Decisions saying we are not victims to be changed 6 years later.
For the average person with nowhere to turn, beside being life destroying, this has been totally confusing. Seems it’s all designed to benefit others. Civil settlement mostly went to attorneys(hired((known expense)), and assigned), vendors got paid, then insurance company’s getting partial reimbursement.(it’s in the fine print, not explained)
But to pay for health care, need it, then have to pay partial back seems questionable.
Being I can’t sleep, I have to much time to respond.