Contaminated pain shots are resulting in sick patients

A pain shot made in a Tennessee pharmacy may be contaminated and could be making people sick. This is very similar to the meningitis outbreak that happened last year. The results of this outbreak are less severe than the outbreak of the meningitis illnesses, but there are infections at the site of where the pain shot was inserted. These infections are skin and soft tissue of unclear etiology following the injection. This is leading to many patients having abscesses. An abscess occurs when white blood cells move through the walls of the blood vessels to the site of infection and collect in the area of damaged tissue. The result of this is the presence of pus. Pus is the buildup of fluid, living and dead white blood cells, dead tissue, and bacteria or other foreign substance. Abscesses can show up anywhere on the body. The most common sites are in your armpits, areas around your anus and vagina, the base of your spine, around a tooth, and in your groin. However if you have received a pain shot, abscesses would form at the site of the shot.

There have been many outbreaks in the past few years, but this particular outbreak comes from contaminated pain shots that were produced by the Main Street Family Pharmacy in Newbern, Tennessee. This shot was sent to patients in 13 states including: Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Caroline, South Caroline and Tennessee.

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that the firm was recalling all amounts of sterile injection drugs. This action was taken in response to seven patients being infected as stated on Vitals on NBC News.

This outbreak is getting so serious that Congress is getting involved. The FDA has asked Congress to pass legislation giving it more power to regulate pharmacies, most importantly large scale pharmacies that ship products in large quantities and across state lines. These shots – along with the subsequent infections – were sent nationwide and crossed state lines, which in itself puts a huge risk on the mass production of the product. As a patient, or if you know someone who was or has been affected by a contaminated shot, write to your congressperson in your state. The more support and cases they are made aware of, the quicker a bill will get passed. This will result in more regulation of the pharmacies, drugs and pharmaceutical companies.

As patients we not only put our lives in the hands of those physicians that are caring for us, but we also have faith in the prescribed drugs that physicians suggest. We have confidence in the pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies in producing prescription drugs that will help patients, not harm them. There are simple steps we as patients can take to ensure we are getting the best care possible. We can make sure our health care providers are wearing gloves, cleaning needles, inserting shots in the correct spot and following up on any procedure. However, it is difficult to ensure the pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies are doing their job correctly. It is important to ask you physician about the drugs they prescribe to you. It is recommended to research the prescribed drug and get as much information about it as possible. While it is hard to have control of the drug itself, we can try to ensure that we as patients are receiving healthy and safe drugs.

If you or a loved on has ever had a case similar or the same to the outbreak of a contaminated shot please feel free to call for a free consultation. These outbreaks have occurred in Texas and you may be affected. Do not let a situation similar to this unnoticed.

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Borchardt Law Firm represent clients in Texas in cases similar to this one. Feel free to give us a call.
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