Nine patients died in Alabama hospitals—most in the Birmingham area—after receiving intravenous nutritional supplements contaminated with a lethal bacteria, the state health department said Tuesday. A total of 19 patients in six hospitals were confirmed to be infected, the Centers for Disease Control found in an investigation called at the state's request. The hospitals were Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Shelby Baptist Medical Center, Cooper Green Mercy Hospital, Medical West, Prattville Baptist Hospital and Select Specialty Hospital, a long-term acute care hospital that operates within Trinity Medical Center. All received bags of nutritional supplements given via IV to patients who are too ill to eat that were compounded by a Birmingham pharmacy called Meds IV.
