Tainted IV Lawsuits Filed Over Deaths At Alabama Hospital

At least two wrongful death lawsuits have been filed against Meds IV, an Alabama compounding pharmacy, which is believed to have provided Alabama hospitals with contaminated intravenous nutritional supplements that have been linked to nine deaths and at least 19 illnesses. 

The Meds IV lawsuits have been filed on behalf of Mary Ellen Kise and Lavonne Mottern, both of whom died after receiving the company’s total parenteral nutrition (TPN) intravenous supplement. A third product liability lawsuit was also filed on behalf of Todd Hammond, who was allegedly injured after being injected with TPN.

Last month, the company shut down in the wake of a TPN recall issued after an outbreak of Serratia marcescens infections hit a number of Alabama hospitals.

Meds IV was a compounding pharmacy that made medications that are not premixed by drug companies. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials say that the pharmacy made the decision to close its doors during the course of the investigation into the outbreak and it is not likely that the business will re-open.

TPN is a liquid nutritional supplement given to patients who have gastrointestinal problems via IV or catheter. It is supposed to be shipped in a sterile container to hospitals and used within a short span of time. CDC officials and investigators from the Alabama health department say it is likely that the contamination occurred during the mixing process by Meds IV.

The Alabama hospitals that are known to have received tainted Meds IV TPN include Baptist Princeton, Baptist Shelby, Baptist Prattville, Medical West, Cooper Green Mercy and Select Specialty Hospital in Birmingham. Kise died at Baptist Prattville and Mottern died at Baptist Princeton. Hammond was in Select Specialty Hospital when he was diagnosed with an infection.

The outbreak is still under investigation by Alabama health officials, the CDC and the FDA; which seized the company’s records last week. A report on the investigation could be released later this week.