The U.S. Justice Department recently sent out a subpoena for Olympus medical equipment after an outbreak of a “superbug” was linked to their endoscopes in February and March.
Roughly 40 individuals hospitalized at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle came down with secondary infections during a two-year span from 2012 to 2014. Out of this group of individuals, 11 would die. At first, it was hard to discern whether the bacterial infection was a contributing factor to their deaths because all of the patients were in critical condition when they were infected.
In March of 2014, the bacteria showed up again at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA and UCLA’s Ronald Reagan hospital. Four patients were infected at Cedars and another 7 at Ronald Reagan. In both incidents, many other patients were exposed.
All in all, from 2013 to 2014, there were upwards of 135 reports of contaminated duodenoscopes to the FDA, which prompted a federal safety watchdog.
In the subpoena, Olympus is named as a defendant in a civil defective product case. Olympus has commented that the outcome could result in their operations and finances being negatively affected.
At least one hospital (Virginia Mason Medical Center) has also been implicated in the subpoena. According to Rando Wick, the hospital’s attorney, Virginia Mason Medical Center “received a federal subpoena about a month ago seeking information and communications related to Olympus and its duodenoscopes dating back several years.”
Read more about this story.