Did you develop an infection after an Olympus Scope procedure?

What to Know About the Olympus Scope Litigation

Olympus scope lawsuits are product-liability or personal-injury claims arising from an infection, physical injury, or death allegedly associated with an Olympus medical scope or scope accessory. Potential cases may involve:

• Duodenoscopes are the flexible scopes used during ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) to access the bile and pancreatic ducts, and are at the center of the Olympus scope litigation. But duodenoscopes are only one part of a much larger family of Olympus reusable endoscopy equipment now under scrutiny, including other endoscope types, the machines hospitals use to clean them, and the small accessory parts attached to them. The terms below explain what each device is, how it’s used in a hospital or endoscopy suite, and why it has come up in lawsuits, FDA actions, and recalls.
• Gastrointestinal endoscopes are flexible, camera-equipped scopes passed through the mouth into the esophagus, stomach, and upper small intestine to diagnose and treat conditions such as ulcers, acid reflux, internal bleeding, and to take tissue biopsies. Unlike duodenoscopes, most GI endoscopes are “straight-viewing” and don’t have an elevator mechanism — but they share many of the same narrow internal channels that make thorough cleaning difficult.
• A bronchoscope is a thin, flexible scope inserted through the nose or mouth and down into the airway and lungs. Pulmonologists use it to diagnose lung disease, collect tissue samples, remove airway obstructions, and perform therapeutic procedures such as laser therapy, argon plasma coagulation, and high-frequency cauterization.
• Urological endoscopes are rigid or flexible scopes used to examine and treat the urinary tract — the bladder, ureters, and kidneys. They’re used to diagnose kidney stones, tumors, and strictures, and to perform treatments such as laser lithotripsy (stone removal).
• A colonoscope is a long, flexible scope used to examine the entire colon, remove polyps, take biopsies, and screen for colorectal cancer. It shares the same reusable, reprocessed design as other Olympus flexible endoscopes.
• An automated endoscope reprocessor is a machine hospitals and endoscopy centers use to clean and high-level disinfect flexible endoscopes between patients. It automates the rinse, detergent wash, disinfection, and final rinse/dry cycle that scopes must go through before reuse.
• Valves, plugs, distal covers, and other scope accessories are the small reusable or single-use components that attach to an endoscope during a procedure — air, water, and suction valves; biopsy port plugs; and distal end caps or covers. Because they sit at points where bodily fluid, tissue, and blood pass through or collect, they are especially prone to trapping contamination in tight crevices, and many are meant to be replaced regularly or after each use.

Not every infection following an endoscopic procedure was caused by the scope. A careful investigation must examine alternative medical causes, the organism involved, the timing of symptoms, device-maintenance records, reprocessing logs, and whether other patients treated at the same facility developed related infections.