BOSTON, MA (AP)-- Three Michigan residents have filed suit after allegedly developing fungal meningitis following an injection of a tainted steroid produced by a Massachusetts company.
An attorney for the plaintiffs, two women and a man, said the lawsuits filed Monday are the first in Massachusetts against the New England Compounding Center. Chicago attorney Elizabeth Kaveny said the suits are just the "tip of the iceberg" for the company, which has ceased operations and recalled all its medicines.
A company spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuits.
The outbreak has sickened nearly 300, including 23 who died. Each received a steroid shot, mostly for back pain.
Federal health officials matched the shots produced by the New England Compounding Center to the outbreak after finding the deadly fungus in more than 50 unopened vials there.
