by Chris Conte
LYLE, Tenn.- Local lawmakers are starting to discuss the nationwide meningitis outbreak centered in Tennessee just as the governor of Massachusetts is questioning whether or not the pharmacy at the center of the outbreak went outside their licensure restrictions.
"They are outside the bounds of their state licenses and they need federal authority and permission to do that," said Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Wednesday.
Patrick told reporters Wednesday he thought the New England Compounding Center was making massive doses of medicine when their license only allowed them to fill specific prescriptions. Those pain steroids, officials say, were contaminated with a certain type of fungus and were more than likely the cause of the nationwide outbreak.
State Rep. David Shepard who represents District 69 in Tennessee shares similar concerns with the Governor of Massachusetts.
"If a facility got a license and they advertised as a compounding pharmacy and it's really from a definition standpoint really more of a manufacturer, I think the state could take their license," Rep. Shepard said.
"Something about that doesn't sound right or smell right because they're not a compounding pharmacy in my mind, they're a manufacturing facility," he added.
137 people are now sick with fungal meningitis nationwide, 44 of them are in Tennessee.
