Tainted syringes killed five people

[babylonsister]

Tainted syringes killed five people
N.C. plant shipped dirty saline, heparin; two plead guilty, one is sought
Sarah Avery - Staff Writer
Published: Tue, Feb. 24, 2009 04:13AM


RALEIGH -- Federal authorities are hunting the mastermind behind a "horrific case" in which bacteria-laden syringes shipped from an Angier plant sickened at least a hundred people and killed five.

Two men pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh for their roles in ignoring sterility standards at the former AM2PAT Inc. plant. Conditions there appeared more consistent with a textile factory than a pharmaceutical facility.

The men -- plant manager Aniruddha Patel and quality control director Ravindra Kumar Sharma -- were each sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for fraud and allowing tainted drugs into the marketplace.
Michael Martin, of Virginia, almost died a year ago after being injected with tainted heparin during a routine treatment for the 8-year-old's hemophilia.

They were rewarded with a relatively light sentence in exchange for information about chief executive officer Dushyant Patel, whose company sold $6.9 million worth of heparin and saline syringes in 2006-07 that did not undergo proper sterility testing.

more...

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/story/1416688.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. How truly horrible.

[L0oniX]

2. Sociopaths ...I'm not surprised.

[nc4bo]

3. Horrible! Follow the link and look at the photo of the plant....Gawd. nt

[nebenaube]

4. wtf?

A blood thinner for a hemophiliac?

[Warpy]

5. This is why our drugs need to be manufactured here

or in other First World countries with strict laws and frequent inspections.

This is why libertarians are so full of shit. This is what happens when there are lax regulations and little governmental interference. Corners get cut to maximize profits and people die.

[babylonsister]

6. "This is why libertarians are so full of shit."

Thank you. If I ever need an example why they are full of shit, I hope I remember this one.