NASHVILLE, Tenn.- A Hendersonville woman battling fungal meningitis is the first Tennessean to sue the pharmacy that supplied the drug.
On Monday, Janet Russell and her husband, Robert Russell, sued the New England Compounding Center for $15 million. The suit filed in Davidson County Circuit Court claims the pharmacy allowed the steroid to be contaminated by fungi through negligence.
Her attorney, Randy Kinnard, said Janet Russell received a tainted epidural steroid shot at the Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgical Center on August 30th. She was hospitalized about a month later, and is currently in the ICU at Saint Thomas. He said she has been unable to speak, and suffered from a stroke. He said the entire ordeal has taken a toll on her family.