Chin, Thomas Appeals Turned Down

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A federal appeals court has turned down the apppeals of two licensed pharmacists who approved prescriptions made out to obviously fake names.
In a 33-page ruling a three judge panel of the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of Kathy Chin and Michelle Thomas, both of whom were employed by the now defunct New England Compounding Center.
They were among 14 people indicted following a two year probe of the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak.
The ruling written by Appeals Court Judge David Barron, however, makes clear that the two were not involved in shipping the steroids that caused the fungal meningitis outbreak which ultimately took the lives of more than 100 patients.
Rather they were charged with violations of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act when they approved for shipment drugs prescribed for obviously fake named patients like Filet O' Fish. Chin was convicted of four counts and Thomas of two counts of violating the FDCA.
The two had argued that they were not acting as pharmacists but as shipping clerks.
The panel rejected that argument citing testimony by a state official and the defendants former fellow employees.
Chin was sentenced to two years probation while Thomas was sentenced to one year of probation followinng a 2019 trial before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns.
In a related action the U.S. Supreme Court this week turned down an appeal filed by another NECC defendant, Alla Stepanets.
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