Olympus Scopes Lawsuit
Need an Olympus Endoscope Infection Attorney? Bouk Law Represents Clients Nationwide. See if you Qualify for an Olympus Scopes lawsuit.
Were You Diagnosed With an Infection After an Olympus Endoscope Procedure?
Bouk Law is actively investigating Olympus endoscope infection claims involving patients who developed serious bacterial infections, sepsis, or other complications after procedures performed with reusable Olympus endoscopes, commonly known as scopes.
Our firm is examining potential liability related to Olympus America, Inc., its subsidiaries, and affiliated entities involved in the design, manufacture, distribution, and sale of these devices.
If you developed a serious infection after undergoing a procedure involving an Olympus scope, you may have legal rights to seek compensation through an Olympus infection lawsuit.
Bouk Law offers a free Olympus endoscope infection case evaluation. We will review whether your illness, medical treatment, and procedure history support a claim for compensation.
Our law firm will gather evidence to identify whether an Olympus scope was used, establish a timeline of events, and document the resulting illness, injury, and subsequent medical treatment.
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What Are Olympus Endoscope Lawsuits?
Olympus endoscope lawsuits allege that certain reusable scopes were defectively designed and that adequate warnings were not provided regarding the challenges of properly cleaning and disinfecting the devices. According to the allegations, these design defects allowed contamination to remain on the scopes between procedures, exposing patients to serious bacterial infections.
Because Olympus is a major manufacturer of medical endoscopic devices used in gastrointestinal, laparoscopic, ENT, and urology procedures, its products are used in millions of patient procedures throughout the United States.
How Do Olympus Scopes Spread Infection?
Olympus scopes are flexible medical instruments equipped with small cameras that allow doctors to examine the digestive tract. The litigation involves certain Olympus scopes that were designed to be reused rather than discarded after a single procedure. They are inserted through the mouth or colon during certain procedures and are reprocessed, meaning they are cleaned between patients before being used again.
Their design makes cleaning difficult. The scopes contain narrow internal channels, elevator parts, hinges, and sealed components that can create small spaces where blood, tissue, bacteria, and other biological material become trapped inside the device, even after cleaning.
In some cases, bacteria and biological debris remain inside certain internal components despite the Olympus Scope reprocessing procedures (cleaning).
When infectious material remains inside a scope, it may be introduced into another patient’s body during a later procedure. This patient-to-patient transmission can lead to serious bacterial infections and other complications.
The scopes are reused. Their design makes cleaning difficult. Contamination may remain inside the scope after cleaning. The contamination can be transmitted to another patient.
Do I Qualify for an Endoscope Lawsuit?
You may qualify for an Olympus scope claim if:
✅ An Olympus scope was used during your procedure.
✅ The procedure occurred in or after 2015.
✅ After the procedure you developed a serious infection or injury, including sepsis, a superbug infection, or tuberculosis (TB).
✅The infection required hospitalization and treatment with IV antibiotics.
✅ You may also qualify if you developed HIV after the procedure.
If the infection or injury resulted in hospitalization, IV antibiotic treatment, intensive care, organ damage, or death, those factors may be important when evaluating your potential claim.
Which Procedures Qualify an Endoscope Lawsuit ?
- Colonoscopy (colon and rectum)
- Endoscopy (including upper endoscopy/gastroscopy)
- Duodenoscopy/ERCP (liver, gallbladder, pancreas, bile ducts, pancreatic ducts)
- Bronchoscopy
- Enteroscopy (small intestine)
- Cholangiography
What Infections and Complications are linked to Olympus Endoscope Infections?
- Sepsis or septic shock
- Bloodborne infections, including HIV and tuberculosis (TB)
- Drug-resistant “Superbug” bacteria infections, like CRE, E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella enteritidis.
- Pneumonia
- Organ failure or ascesses
- Intravenous (IV) antibiotics
- Longer hospital stays
- Death
How Long Do I Have to File an Endoscope Lawsuit?
Contact our firm as soon as you can. The deadline for an Olympus lawsuit depends on the state where the claim is filed and the facts of your case, including when you learned your infection may be tied to the procedure.
Deadlines can be short. We can review your claim before time runs out.
What Compensation May Be Available in an Endoscope Lawsuit?
People who got serious infections after procedures with Olympus scopes may be able to seek Olympus compensation for medical bills, lost pay, pain and suffering, and other losses.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire an Olympus Endoscope Attorney?
At Bouk Law we work on a contingency fee basis. That means you do not pay any attorney fees unless we recover money for you. This lets injured patients and families to pursue a claim without paying any upfront costs.
Why Choose Bouk Law?
- Accepting clients nationwide
- Direct attorney contact
- No recovery, no fee
- Care and urgency
The FDA started warning about this in 2015. In 2018, Olympus pled guilty to failing to report infections tied to its scopes and paid more than $80 million in criminal penalties. Since then, the FDA has also sent more warning letters about manufacturing problems and, in 2025, blocked the import of many models of Olympus devices. In some cases, patients say the infection that changed their health — sepsis, a drug-resistant “superbug,” organ damage, or worse — came from a scope the company knew it could not guarantee was clean.