Olympus Medical Systems has received its fifth suit filed by a patient claiming to have been infected with the hospital "superbug" as a result of inadequate sterilization of its duodenoscope.
The suits, all involving California hospital patients, were filed by those who were among 7 that one hospital said had been infected by the carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). The other two died.
All had received treatments with the Olympus device. The FDA recently issued a warning advising that because of their design, the scopes of Olympus, Fujifilm Holdings and Pentax could not be sterilized for reuse if the cleaning instructions supplied with them were followed.
- here are stories from Reuters and the Los Angeles Times