Prosecutor in meningitis case: Pharmacist gambled with lives

AP Photo/Steven Senne

BOSTON (AP) — A federal prosecutor says a Massachusetts pharmacist charged in a meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people knew mold and other bacteria were growing inside the filthy production rooms but chose to do nothing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan told jurors Friday that New England Compounding Center supervisory pharmacist Glenn Chin ignored warning signs that patients’ safety was at risk. Strachan says Chin chose instead to “gamble” with patients’ lives.

Chin is charged with second-degree murder under federal racketeering law and other crimes. He ran the clean rooms where the drugs that caused the 2012 outbreak were made.

Chin’s attorney, Stephen Weymouth, told jurors that prosecutors have failed to prove how the drugs became contaminated. Weymouth says, “This is a horribly tragic death case, but this is not a murder case.”