If you've been following the news as of late, you've probably been noticing all the news articles that have been reporting the meningitis outbreaks. As of
today, 11 people have been reported dead and 119 people sick. It is estimated that up to 13,000 people may have been injected with this contaminated steroid.
As a background for those who have not heard the news, methylprednisolone acetate injections were made at a specialty pharmacy, New England Compounding Center of Massachusetts, has caused an outbreak of meningitis across the country. The CDC has suspected that the vials were tainted with a fungus similar to that found in leaf mold, however, had already been distributed to 23 states. And slowly, the death toll increases and the sick number rises.
How do we react to such news? For compounding pharmacies like New England's Compounding Center, lawmakers are reacting by trying to
impose stricter laws. However, these pharmacies compounding drugs that specifically do not go through the FDA process, and are prescribed by homeopathic physicians, what kind of laws are going to exist? Is it going to be harder for patients who choose for alternative treatments to receive the medications they desire, and will some pharmacies be closed by these future "stricter" laws?
As inpatient pharmacists, how do we react? Luckily, none of these vials came through the hospital I work at. But if it did, I'm not sure how I would feel, knowingly verifying, checking, a medication that is, future negative impacting a vulnerable patient. I'm not even sure what the right way to react is. For my non-pharmacy friends who have been asking me how I feel about it, I simply say, "well.. there was no way of knowing that the drug you checked was going to cause this...so if the patient gets meningitis, we try to handle it to the best of our ability.." And I really think that's the best we can do in this situation. Agree?