Buffalo, New York: Scope Infection Lawsuits

Jed Dietrich, Esq., Recognized as a Super Lawyer and American Institute of Trial Lawyers Litigator of the Year, is Committed to Defending the Rights of Buffalo Families. If You Were Diagnosed with a Serious Bacterial Infection or Other Illness Caused by Exposure to a Contaminated Endoscope or Other Medical Scope, You Could Be Entitled to Significant Compensation.

Olympus is the world’s largest manufacturer of medical scopes.

If you have ever had an endoscopy, gastroscopy, or bronchoscopy, there is a good chance your doctor used a device made by Olympus. However, you probably were not the first or the last patient to be on the receiving end of the same scope. Since medical scope systems can cost thousands of dollars to buy and maintain, most doctors will use theirs as many times as possible, often for dozens of different procedures.

Medical scopes are made to be durable, but they are still highly susceptible to contamination. Between patients, doctors usually make a painstaking effort to sterilize the device. Olympus uses the term “reprocessing” to describe the steps taken to clean its scopes. Reprocessing is intensive and typically involves some combination of pre-cleaning, leak testing, and immersion in a special disinfectant bath. Under ideal conditions, these steps eradicate any remaining bacteria, ensuring that the next patient would not be exposed to potentially life-threatening pathogens.

However, a series of recent reports has come to a startling conclusion about Olympus scopes.

Over the course of the past several years, hundreds of people throughout the United States have been diagnosed with infections that investigators believe were most likely caused by scope-related contaminations. Dozens of patients passed away from their complications.

At first, health officials thought that these infections were caused by simple mistakes and cleaning oversights. It now appears that a complex elevator mechanism, found at the tip of many Olympus scopes, contains a range of borderline inaccessible spaces, little nooks, crannies, and crevices that even the most thorough cleanings cannot always penetrate. The germs that fall into these tiny spaces can sometimes end up surviving sterilization, putting the next patient to undergo a procedure in incredible danger. If that is not already bad enough, the kinds of pathogens that are capable of withstanding medical-grade disinfectants tend to be highly resistant to antibiotics, making them far harder to treat than other illnesses.

Patients should not have to bear the burden of a risk they were never warned about.

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a serious condition caused by an Olympus medical scope, you could be entitled to significant compensation. A recognized U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firm, the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. has spent decades helping Buffalonians assert their rights to a fair recovery. We know what it takes to build a compelling, evidence-based case for compensation, and we have the results to prove it. Please send us a message online or call us today at 716-839-3939 to speak to a scope infection lawyer and schedule your 100% free, no-obligation consultation.

Doctors use medical scopes to see inside the body and treat internal injuries.

Instruments like the endoscope or duodenoscope resemble long, flexible tubes. They usually have a camera and light on the end and sometimes have small, specialized tools attached, too. These instruments are usually inserted into the body through a tiny incision and are controlled remotely by your doctor. For patients, this usually means faster recovery times and a lower risk of complications.

Of course, any device that goes inside the body risks picking up germs along the way.

Olympus’s sterilization procedures are designed to minimize the risk of contamination, but health watchdogs suspect that some of their scopes could have an in-built problem. For example, many Olympus scopes, while small and incredibly agile, are comprised of very complex and highly sensitive internal systems. These include:

1. Elevator mechanisms that help move the scope up and down;
2. Microscopic grooves that risk retaining bodily fluids;
3. Sealed electronics compartments that cannot be easily removed or inspected for contamination; and
4. Other internal barriers could make cleaning difficult.

The tiny components that make up most medical scopes are usually placed very close together, creating small, empty spaces that could harbor dangerous pathogens.

The risk of contamination is not speculative.

The Food and Drug Administration has investigated hundreds of cases involving Olympus medical scopes. In a series of recent reports, the agency announced that contaminated endoscopes and duodenoscopes have likely caused conditions, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Bacterial infections;
2. Sepsis;
3. Pneumonia;
4. Internal organ and tissue damage; and
5. HIV/AIDS.

Since medical scopes are cleaned and sterilized between procedures, any pathogens that survive the process tend to be resilient and, in some cases, unusually resistant to antibiotics and other first-line treatments. This can turn an otherwise common and easily treatable condition, like an E. coli infection, into a life-threatening emergency.

Medical device manufacturers like Olympus have many obligations.

Before they can put a new endoscope or duodenoscope on the market, companies must usually:

1. Design a safe device;
2. Conduct preclinical safety testing in a controlled laboratory setting;
3. Test their devices on human patients and document all potential complications;
4. Submit their product for FDA review; and
5. Monitor consumer and professional reports for complications or side effects that either were not detected or documented during earlier test phases.

If a company fails to meet these obligations, it could be held liable for the cost of any resulting injuries. This is often true even if the manufacturer had no reason to believe that its device was in some way defective or otherwise unsafe. In either case, if and when a defect is detected, companies must warn the public. A warning does not have to be a letter or a televised announcement. Instead, it could take the form of a written disclaimer or a verbal warning from your doctor.

Olympus likely knows that its devices are dangerous but has repeatedly sought to minimize its own liability, often by downplaying the risks associated with medical scopes. In 2018, for instance, Olympus pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges and paid an estimated $85 million in penalties after regulators accused it of covering up evidence of endoscope-related infections.

If you have been injured by an endoscope, you could be eligible to file a product liability lawsuit against Olympus or another device manufacturer. Contact the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. today at 716-839-3939 to speak to a medical scope injury lawyer in Buffalo and schedule your 100% free, no-obligation consultation as soon as possible.

Call the Dietrich Law Firm P.C. immediately at 716-839-3939 so that our aggressive, tenacious, and hardworking personal injury lawyers can fight to obtain the best result for your personal injury claim in Buffalo, New York. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and there is never a fee until we WIN for you!