Chicago Injury Attorney Blog

The Chicago Tribune recently published an article about a toddler who, after undergoing a double-lung transplant, died in 2008 from complications. There is evidence, however, to indicate that young Natalie Fullerton didn’t have to die.

It turns out that after the surgery her father had used fluid-filled syringes to clean a tube that had been implanted in her chest so that her medication could be administered intravenously. What Natalie’s father Leslie didn’t know at the time was that the syringes came from a contaminated batch that were made in a factory belonging to a Lake Zurich businessman. This same batch has been linked to 162 illnesses and 4 fatalities in the US. 22 cases occurred in Illinois.

The Chicago Tribune reports that a look at a number of documents, including inspection reports, indicate that the US Food and Drug Administration missed several opportunities to stop patients from using the contaminated syringes.

Three months before the syringes were shipped out, an FDA inspector visited the North Carolina plant where the syringes were manufactured. There had been reports of brown, red, and black particles in the syringes and the inspector said that managers had come up with a way to deal with the rest. She failed, however, to note that the plant’s sterilization method was unreliable.

The following week, a distributor recalled 1.3 million of the syringes. Yet the FDA failed to conduct a more in-depth probe because it was understaffed and did not consider the syringes to pose a reasonable threat of serious injury or death. The FDA finally conducted a more thorough investigation later in the year after receive reports of injuries.

The Fullertons and a number of other Illinois families have filed their Illinois wrongful death and products liability lawsuits against the AM2PAT plant in Cook County Circuit Court. One of the other plaintiffs is Jim Tallian from Palatine. He says that contaminated syringes caused him to become seriously ill twice while he was recovering from a serious illness. He had used the AM2PAT syringes to flush a catheter that had been placed in his chest.

Dirty syringes: FDA failed to shut down troubled plant, and family paid price, Chicago Tribune, June 7, 2009

Timeline: How Contaminated Syringes Got From Factory to Patients, Propublica.org

Related Web Resources:
Food and Drug Administration

Obama Memo on Products Liability Preemption, May 20, 2009