A hospital being sued for the death of patient related to a non-sterile duodenoscope is joining with the plaintiff to sue the scope manufacturer.
The patient, Richard Bigler, of Woodway, WA, was one of 39 patients at Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center who were infected by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) between 2012 and 2014, according to a report in The Seattle Times. The outbreak was one of several nationwide since 2010 that have been linked to duodenoscopes manufactured primarily by Olympus, but also by Pentax Medical and Fujifilm, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Known to be extremely difficult to clean, duodenoscopes are used in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedures. Olympus recently issued new reprocessing instructions for its TJF-Q180V scope. The instructions are available online at http://tinyurl.com/o75j7yn.
After being sued by Bigler’s widow, Virginia Mason filed a lawsuit against Olympus in a cross claim, according to the plaintiff’s attorney.
