Gentry Locke Attorneys Uncover Billing Discrepancy in Meningitis Cases, File $25-Million Lawsuit
While performing research on behalf of their clients, Gentry Locke attorneys Scott Sexton and Tony Russell uncovered discrepancies in what Insight Imaging – Roanoke told patients and insurance companies they were injecting and what drug was actually injected.
On December 27, 2012, Gentry Locke Rake & Moore filed the first in a series of cases against Insight Health Corp. and related parties. These cases detail allegations of billing improprieties, negligence and misrepresentations related to the injections received by local patients of Insight Imaging – Roanoke. The lawsuits seek relief for the patients on five different counts: (1) Negligence Per Se, (2) Virginia Consumer Protection Act, (3) Negligence, (4) Gross Negligence, and (5) Fraud. Gentry Locke sees these cases as separate and independent from those filed against New England Compounding, which recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on December 21, 2012.
The lawsuit alleges that Insight Imaging – Roanoke provided patients with invoices that falsely itemized the injected drug as “Depo-Medrol”, the trademarked name of a drug produced by the FDA-regulated company Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, a division of Pfizer. The drug that was purchased and injected into patients was actually methylprednisolone acetate, a generic version produced by New England Compounding Center (“NECC”) in Framingham, Massachusetts. While there are FDA-regulated drug manufacturers that produce sterile generic versions of methylprednisolone acetate, NECC was not only not FDA regulated, but its building was surrounded by a garbage recycling facility.
Insight Imaging has 50 facilities in the United States. Only its Roanoke location purchased the generic version of this drug that was produced by NECC.
This development was reported heavily in local news media:
- Article in The Roanoke Times (12/28/2012)
- WDBJ 7 News (CBS affiliate)
- WSLS Channel 10 News (NBC affiliate)
- WSET Channel 13 News (ABC affiliate)
Gentry Locke is seeking $25 million on behalf of the widow of Douglas Gray Wingate, who died as a result of the tainted injection. The Firm has also been retained by other clients for whom lawsuits have or will be filed.
Aerial photograph of area behind New England Compounding Center (NECC). Copyright © 2012 Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore, LLP. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.
