15 New Suits Over Tainted Steroids Target New Jersey Clinic

By Greg Kohn
Partner

Litigation filed in a New Jersey Federal District Court has opened a new chapter in multi-district litigation involving the New England Compounding Center (NECC).

In 2012, NECC was found to have produced contaminated medications that led to a nationwide meningitis outbreak, killing 64 people.  The company was shuttered by the FDA and is now bankrupt.

Now fifteen New Jersey lawsuits claim that a clinic, Premier Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Associates of Vineland, NJ, and two of its doctors, Kimberley Smith and Thomas Dwyer, gave patients medications that came from NECC.  According to the allegations, the defendants were negligent and failed to exercise reasonable care in ensuring that the drugs were not contaminated.  The litigation also names officers of NECC as defendants.

Because NECC products were cheaper, the suits say, the defendants preferred them to drugs from more established brands.  The clinic and its physicians allegedly obtained drugs from NECC using names of fictitious patients or patients no longer receiving treatment.  After injecting patients with the NECC drugs, they often indicated on medical reports that the drugs came from other manufacturers.

The suits include a lengthy list of counts, including battery, lack of informed consent, negligence, negligent supervision, and product liability.  They also allege civil conspiracy and violation of New Jersey and Massachusetts consumer protection laws.

The new filings mean that there are now 45 New Jersey cases related to the NECC scandal.  The Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation, which is consolidating cases in the District of Massachusetts for joint pretrial proceedings, currently has about 300 cases to which these will, most likely, be added.

Tainted medications and other mass torts have far-reaching impact, touching the lives of plaintiffs in many states.  If you have been injured by negligently manufactured drugs, medical devices, or any other products, you need expert counsel to navigate the complexities of product liability class action litigation.

The Essex County, New Jersey law firm of Nagel Rice has successfully handled a wide variety of product liability, personal injury, and malpractice cases.  For a consultation, contact us at (973)618-0400 or (212)551-1465.

About the Author
Greg Kohn is a partner at Nagel Rice and specializes in complex civil litigation cases, including professional malpractice, personal injury, class actions, wrongful death, products liability, and commercial litigation.  He has extensive experience representing clients in both state and federal court. Greg has tried many jury trials to verdict and has recovered over $50 million in settlements and verdicts in all types of personal injury matters including automobile accidents, wrongful death cases, slip and falls, and other catastrophic injury cases. Greg also handles medical malpractice cases, involving misdiagnoses, wrongful birth, and delayed cancer diagnosis. If you have questions regarding this article, you can contact Greg here.