Olympus endoscope failure claims for injured consumers

Who may be eligible to file a claim

Patients who developed infections after procedures performed between 2010 and the present may qualify. The 30 to 90-day window following the procedure represents the core medical timeframe for establishing a causal connection between the scope and the infection.

Patients who underwent routine endoscopic procedures at hospitals across the country developed life-threatening superbug infections because the Olympus duodenoscopes used in those procedures could not be adequately cleaned between patients. The elevator mechanism inside these devices contains moving parts and narrow crevices that trap bacteria and drug-resistant biofilms that survive standard hospital sterilization protocols. Hospitals followed Olympus's own cleaning instructions, and patients still contracted infections.

More than 40 hospitals worldwide were linked to outbreaks. As many as 404 patients were reportedly infected, and at least 35 deaths have been associated with contaminated Olympus scopes. In December 2018, Olympus Medical Systems Corporation pleaded guilty in federal court to failing to file required adverse-event reports involving infections connected to its duodenoscopes and agreed to pay $85 million in criminal fines and forfeiture. A U.S. Senate investigation concluded that Olympus had contamination information before U.S. regulators and hospitals were fully informed and chose not to act on it quickly enough to prevent widespread harm.

You or your family may have grounds for a legal claim if:

• You or a family member underwent an ERCP or related endoscopic procedure involving an Olympus duodenoscope
• A serious bacterial infection developed within 30 to 90 days following the procedure, including CRE, MRSA, VRE, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, or Klebsiella
• The infection led to sepsis, bloodstream infection, multi-organ failure, extended hospitalization, intensive care admission, or permanent disability
• You have medical records, procedure records, culture reports, or infectious disease evaluations documenting the infection and its connection to the endoscopic procedure
• A family member died following an infection linked to an Olympus scope procedure, and you are pursuing a wrongful death claim

How a device used in routine procedures became a vector for deadly infections

Olympus duodenoscopes are used in Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography procedures, commonly known as ERCP, to diagnose and treat conditions affecting the pancreas, liver, gallbladder, and bile ducts. Approximately 500,000 ERCP procedures are performed annually in the United States, and Olympus controlled an estimated 70 to 85 percent of the domestic duodenoscope market, meaning its devices were present in hospitals nationwide.

The design flaw at the center of this litigation is the scope's elevator mechanism. This component contains moving parts and microscopic crevices that trap biological material and drug-resistant bacteria even after hospitals complete the full reprocessing protocol Olympus provided. Because contamination survives inside the device, the scope transmits pathogens from one patient to the next during subsequent procedures. Patients who entered hospitals for what should have been routine diagnostic procedures left with CRE infections, sepsis, and in dozens of cases did not survive.

Plaintiffs allege Olympus was aware that its reprocessing instructions were insufficient to eliminate contamination and continued distributing the devices without updating its warnings or redesigning the elevator mechanism to address the known problem.

What Olympus is alleged to have concealed and failed to disclose

Patients and families filing claims against Olympus point to a documented pattern of conduct that went well beyond a manufacturing oversight:

• Criminal admission of concealment: Olympus pleaded guilty in 2018 to deliberately failing to file adverse-event reports with the FDA involving patient infections connected to its duodenoscopes, conduct the Department of Justice described as ongoing while the company continued distributing devices in the United States.
• Prior knowledge of contamination risks: A U.S. Senate investigation found that Olympus had received information indicating contamination concerns before major U.S. outbreaks occurred and before hospitals or regulators were informed, giving the company time to act that it did not use.
• Failure to warn hospitals and physicians: Despite accumulating infection reports from facilities following its approved cleaning protocols, Olympus did not issue adequate updated warnings or cleaning instructions until after outbreaks had injured and killed patients across multiple states.
• Continued distribution of defective devices: Federal prosecutors alleged Olympus kept selling and distributing affected duodenoscopes in the United States even as adverse-event reports connected those devices to patient infections went unfiled with the FDA.

What the litigation has produced so far

Olympus endoscope cases have already demonstrated that juries and the legal system are prepared to hold the company accountable. In 2017, a Washington state jury awarded $6.6 million to a plaintiff who contracted a superbug infection linked to a contaminated Olympus scope. Olympus has also entered multiple confidential settlements with patients and families affected by infection outbreaks, including wrongful death cases resolved without publicly disclosed amounts.

As of 2026, there is no federal MDL consolidating all Olympus endoscope claims. Cases proceed as individual product liability lawsuits, wrongful death actions, and negligence claims across state and federal courts. The wave of FDA enforcement actions in 2025 and 2026, including an import alert blocking 58 Olympus device models and several product recalls, has opened the door to a second wave of claims and put fresh legal attention on the company's quality and safety practices.

Atraxia Law will review your Olympus endoscope case

Our team has spent more than 35 years helping patients and families assess whether they have a viable personal injury or wrongful death claim and connecting those who qualify with attorneys prepared to take their cases to court. If you or someone in your family developed a serious infection after an endoscopic procedure and believes an Olympus scope was involved, we will review your records, evaluate your claim, and refer you to a qualified attorney who handles product liability cases against medical device manufacturers.