Kill Shot: A Shadow Industry, a Deadly Disease

By Jason Dearen

Book Overview

An award-winning investigative journalist's horrifying true crime story of America's deadliest drug contamination outbreak and the greed and deception that fueled it.

Two pharmacists sit in a Boston courtroom accused of murder. The weapon: the fungus Exserohilum rostratum. The death count: 100 and rising. Kill Shot is the story of their hubris and fraud, discovered by a team of medical detectives who raced against the clock to hunt the killers and the fungal meningitis they'd unleashed.

Bloodthirsty is how doctors described the fungal microbe that contaminated thousands of drug vials produced by the New England Compounding Center (NECC). Though NECC chief Barry Cadden called his company the Ferrari of Compounders, it was a slapdash operation of unqualified staff, mold-ridden lab surfaces, and hastily made medications that were injected into approximately 14,000 people. Once inside some of its human hosts, the fungus traveled through the tough tissue around the spine and wormed upward to the deep brain, our control center for balance, breath, and the vital motor functions of life.

Now, investigative journalist Jason Dearen turns a spotlight on this tragedy--the victims, the heroes, and the perpetrators--and the legal loopholes that allowed it to occur. Kill Shot forces a powerful but unchecked industry out of the shadows.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593085787
• ISBN13: 9780593085783
• Release Date: February 2021
• Publisher: Avery Publishing Group
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Sobering Look at the Gruesome Underbelly of Healthcare

I am absolutely blown away by Kill Shot. It is an edge-of-your-seat read that shines a spotlight on an all-too-real reality: not everyone in the healthcare industry prioritizes patient safety. Some are simply in it for the money. Working in oncology, this book broke my heart. In the case of Barry Cadden and NECC, it was all about the money—period. I honestly cannot believe Cadden wasn't found guilty of second-degree murder; I am genuinely ashamed of the justice system for that. It’s a complete failure to hold those responsible accountable for their disregard for human life. As a Dallas local, reading about the 2018 Key-Whitman Eye Center incident, where dozens of people were blinded, made the dangers in this book feel all too real and close to home. It is a total wake-up call for why we need strict compliance in every hospital and clinic. Much like the lack of oversight that led to the 2008 housing crash, when you strip away regulation, disasters follow. I’m relieved these tragedies finally forced a crackdown on pharmacy compliance—like more drop-in inspections and the strict testing requirements of USP 797—but it’s scary to realize how much lobbying power groups like the IACP have had in a capitalistic system where profit often comes before patients. I want to be clear: I’ve worked with compounding pharmacies that were incredibly diligent, ACHC-accredited, and fully focused on safety. I know not everyone is ‘bad,’ but this book exposes the dangerous when lack of oversight exists. It’s a wake-up call for why we need to stay involved, call our representatives, and demand better standards. This is a must-read for anyone in the healthcare industry.