lovelace. she is the wife of the late eddie lovelace. he served in kentucky's clinton, cumberland, and monroe counties. judge lovelace was the first confirmed death as a result of fungal contamination from steroid injections. before joyce lovelace against her testimony, i would like to recognize the distinguished gentle ben from kentucky, who is also chairman. the one who represents the first district of kentucky for an introduction of ms. lovelace. >> thank you very much. thank you to all the members of this committee. we genuinely appreciate you being here to investigate this issue. i feel very fortunate to be here with ms. lovelace. ever since i have been a member of congress, joyce and eddie and i have been very good friends. they live in albany, kentucky. we talked about statistics and figures. when you look at the individual lives involved, it makes all the difference in the world. joyce and eddie were married almost 56 years. he died on september 17, 2012, as a result of publications fro

. >> reporter: cadden's refusal to testify came right after an emotional plea from joyce lovelace. >>family is bitter. we are angry. and i just come here begging you to do something about the matter. >> reporter: eddie lovelace, her husband of 55 years, was the first to die from the fungal meningitis. >> whoever is responsible, their lack of attention to their duties cost my husband his life. >> reporter: to some on the house subcommittee, that meant the food and drug administration. the f.d.a. conducted three inspections of n.e.c.c. since 1998. the agency wrote one warning letter, but never shut the company down. congressman cliff stearns is the chairman. >> this was a complete and utter failure on the part of your agency. >> reporter: f.d.a. commissioner dr. margaret hamburg said n.e.c.c. was a compounder, a company that alters drugs to meet the special needs of a specific patient. she claimed that would make the state of massachusetts responsible for oversight. >> we feel there are significant gaps in our authorities. >> reporter: that didn't sit well with both republicans and demo

joyce lovelace and the wife of the late honorable lovelace. serving as a circuit judge for the 40th district and was the first confirmed death as a result of begins she begins heard testimony on lake to loathsome the 10 to amend that represents the first but also ranking members wheat appreciate you being here to investigate this issue. i feel fortunate to be with her today as the constituent because ever since i have been a member of congress they have been good friends of mine and living in all but a kentucky. if you look at the individual life it makes a difference. married almost 56 years, i he died september 17, from complications from the steroid injection causing fungal meningitis which is the focus of the hearing. he was 78 but most people thought he was 50 because the walked for miles everyday and a judge and also as a chief prosecutor for the county attorney and was involved in every aspect. we will all miss eddy and never forget him but i want to thank joyce for sharing their story with the committee. >> thank you for the introducti

lovelace. plug. length. lucky live. lucky. cultures that so much of a lot of people at nigeria will dance it all were tough to take to the so-called war on drugs has been fodder for decades few believe it is achieved much beyond horrific budgetary policy and extremely high levels of. player.

one of those victims was retired kentucky judge eddie lovelace whose widow joyce came to the congressional hearing looking for answers. >> we're heartbreaking and devastated. and i am here begging you to do something about the matter. >> reporter: the meningitis outbreak is slowing down with fewer new cases being reported. about 14,000 people are thought to have been exposed. the massachusetts company had a well documented history of problems. nearly a decade ago the food and drug administration wanted to shut it down until it cleaned up its operations. instead the fda deferred to state regulators who allowed it to stay open. >> this outbreak very well might have been prevented. >> reporter: the fda says the agency needs more authority and funding to oversee compounding pharmacies. >> as it is, our authority over compounding is limited, unclear and uncontested. >> reporter: the new england compounding center is closed and officials are in the process of permanently revoking its license. vinita nair for cbs news, new york. >>> in health news, race plays a role in surviving breast cancer. a

the steroids produced here infected eddie lovelace with meningitis and killed him. >> we're heartbroken. we're devastated. and i've just come here begging you to do something about this matter. >> reporter: a question members of congress put to that owner. >> what explanation can you give the families who have lost their loved ones -- >> on advice of council -- >> reporter: five times, he took the fifth. >> i respectfully decline. i respectfully decline. i respectfully decline to answer on the basis of my constitutional rights and privileges. >> reporter: refusing to answer any questions. >> is your position that the fda could not have prevented this tragedy because you did not have jurisdiction? is that what you're telling me today? >> we have unclear, fragmented legal regulatory framework. >> reporter: so, what will happen to the owner? he could face jail time. as for the 14,000 people injected with the drugs, they're being told to be on the lookout for a couple more months, but finally, tomorrow marks six weeks since the recall, when most probably would have shown symptoms of the dea

. >> is she still doing lovelace? >> i don't think she's doing that anymore.ll us about chris brown. >> none of these stories are going to end up well. >> chris brown got in a twitter war over the weekend with a comedian named jenny johnson. >> he made her a name. >> he did basically. she said nasty about him, he said something nastier, said things about pooping, farting, her face. >> what what's more fun than that? should have just watched liz and dick. i didn't mean tweet anyone. i was mean tweeting lindsay lohan a little bit. i'm not controversial. >> let's talk about the halle berry brawl. >> i saw that picture. i thought it was a squirmish. wait until you see the picture. i don't know if we can use it. >> he's got a black eye. >> halle berry, her boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, came over with their daughter and got in a fight with her current man, who used to be a professional boxer. gabriel, the canadian male model, dude, what are you thinking? he got the bejeezus kicked out of him. he really looks jacked up. he got granted a restraining order against olivier.

. >> reporter: the committee opened with testimony from joyce lovelace. she is the widow of kentucky circuit judge eddie lovelace who died after receiving injections of steroid back pain medication produced by necc. she put a human face on one of the statistics saying quote, i can't begin to tell you what i have lost, my soulmate, my partner. words can't describe, end quote. the committee also called on the president of necc, barry caden. in fact he is on the stand right now. he tried to invoke his fifth amendment rights, he is refusing to testify. the committee is still going on the panel asking him question after question and in response each time he invokes his fifth amendment rights not to testify. the committee hearing continues. jenna, back to you. jenna: hopefully there are answers that serve us eventually. jonathan, thank you. >> reporter: certainly. rick: coming up a suspect arrested in a terrible plot. you will not believe he who he wanted to target. the investigation into a tragic plane crash that killed three people. when you find out where th

. >> the panel did hear from the widow of kentucky circuit court judge edy lovelace who died after receivingnjection of back pain medication produced by the new england compounding center. >> whoever is responsible, i want them to know their lack of attention to the duties cost my husband his life. >> as a compounding pharmacy, any cc does not same federal oversight as the drug manufacturers. members of congress are trying to determine whether regulators dropped the ball or whether their hands were tied by what the fda commissioner described as a crazy quilt of legal authority. >> what we do know that s that stronger clearer authority would enable more effective regulation of the drug compounding industry. especially when it has been evolved so significantly. >> massachusetts officials say necc when beyond the scope as a pharmacy and beheyed more like a drug manufacturer. producing mass quantity of medication for interstate sale. congress is likely to debate whether this an isolated case handled by the courts or additional legislation is needed to beef up the federal government oversight of

lovelace and our constituents whatever states they are in. and this is not a one-time deal. >> you have my absolute commitment we will continue to work with you and all of your requests for additional information. you touched on a very important point that i want to underscore, we have responsibility for oversight of manufacturers and drug facilities in this country and around the world, but our authorities to provide oversight of drug manufacturers is very different than our authority to oversee compounding pharmacies, whichr in fact, exempted from important aspects of f.d.a. law and there is this disconnect between different legal requirements in different parts of the country as well. we have ambiguous, fragmented, unclear and contested authorities in this particular realm of pharmacy and drug manufacturing practice. and that is what our opportunity is now and what our responsibility, i think is to work together to really create new legislative authority that defines the best approaches that gives us the broader authorities that we need to

lovelace make him and all the of the people who are waiting to see if they're going to die from this contaminated drug. we don't want excuses, but we don't want to leave this law ambiguous because you are always sued if you act. and if you act as a me at authority when you don't, you're usually call before committed to say how could you act as if he had authority when congress didn't give it to you. i think we ought to put our partisanship aside, the election is over, figure out a clear law for the federal government to be able to act. because with all due respect, this is not a state issue if drugs are being shipped around the country. thank you, mr. chairman. >> and i'll be the first to recognize him to recommend as chairman of the fda. >> can we finish this hearing, please? >> might not want that job. spent all right, dr. burgess is recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. something those are important, i don't want to get lost in the translation. representative of blackburn asked about e-mails between the fda regional office and the massachusetts board of pharmacy. mr. chairman, m