A special Michigan grand jury, including members from Grand Traverse County, will investigate meningitis deaths and illnesses linked to tainted steroid injections. The grand jury will look into whether any laws were broken in connection with an outbreak that has killed 16 people in Michigan. To people have died from the tainted injections since the request for a grand jury was originally filed.
The injected compound originated from a Massachusetts company, the New England Compounding Center, and was delivered to patients by clinics across the U.S. and in four Michigan counties.
Those counties will each be represented on the grand jury. In addition to Grand Traverse County, grand jurors will come from Livingston, Genesee, and Macomb counties. The inquiry will be led by Livingston County Circuit Judge David Reader.
The state Court of Appeals agreed to the grand jury, after a request was filed by state Attorney General Bill Schuette. A three-judge panel granted it by a two-to-one vote. One judge dissented, saying the attorney general had not established probable cause that a Michigan law was broken.
