Prosecutor: Pharmacist in meningitis case gambled with lives [View all]

BOSTON — A pharmacist charged with murder in a meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people knew that mold and other bacteria were growing inside the filthy production rooms and that drugs shipped to customers were not sterile, but chose to do nothing, a federal prosecutor told jurors Friday.

Glenn Chin, the supervisory pharmacist at the now-closed New England Compounding Center in Framingham, ignored warning signs that his production methods were unsafe and decided instead to gamble with patients’ lives, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Strachan said during closing arguments.

“This was a crisis of epic proportions, and it was looming ... and Glenn Chin just didn’t care,” Strachan said.

Chin, who ran the clean rooms where the drugs were made, is charged with second-degree murder under federal racketeering law, mail fraud and other crimes. He is charged in the deaths of 25 people in Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Read more: http://www.gazettenet.com/Prosecutor-Pharmacist-in-meningitis-case-gambled-with-lives-13245349