Legal Pearls: Court Rules That Drug was Intervening Cause in Medical Malpractice Death

The Background

Prior to opening her own practice, the physician had regularly injected patients with preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate, a corticosteroid, sourced from a compounding center. When the physician opened her own practice, she continued to order the corticosteroid from the same supplier. In the summer of 2012, the compounding center’s product became contaminated with fungi. The physician placed an order that was filled using contaminated vials, which had not been sterilized. 

The patient, who had chronic neck and arm pain, was injected by the physician with the tainted medication on August 31, 2012. The following week, the patient developed a headache, followed by nausea, vomiting, right-side weakness, double vision, and balance problems. By September 8, she was admitted to a hospital, and her illness progressed rapidly. The patient died on September 16 from fungal meningitis.

The Case

The patient’s family sued the physician, claiming that using medications from a compounding pharmacy constituted a breach of the standard of care because medications from compounding pharmacies are inherently riskier and should only be used in very limited cases when no other option is available. The physician’s defense was that the compounding center’s conduct in failing to sterilize the vials was an intervening and superseding cause of the patient’s death.

The Decision

The jury found that the physician had breached the standard of care in the treatment of the patient and that the breach caused the illness and death. However, the jury also found that the compounding center’s negligence was an intervening and superseding cause of the patient’s illness and death, and because of that, the physician was found not liable. The patient’s family appealed, claiming the physician had been negligent in stocking corticosteroids from the compounding center in question.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, the appellate court upheld the decision because the jury could reasonably conclude that the compounding center’s conduct in supplying tainted medication was unforeseeable and a superseding cause of the patient’s death.

Ann W. Latner, JD, is a freelance writer and attorney based in New York. She was formerly the director of periodicals at the American Pharmacists Association and editor of Pharmacy Times.