Olympus Scope Lawsuit California — Legal Rights for California Patients

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Olympus Scope — Infection Litigation

The Olympus Scope Infection Litigation, Explained

Olympus pleaded guilty in federal court to failing to report scope infections — $85 million in penalties, 250+ patients affected. Here is what is publicly known.

ACTIVE LITIGATION. Most recent filing: June 2026 · deadlines vary by state — some as short as one year.

Marin & Murphy is not licensed in California; details below.

Stefanie A. Murphy & Matthew T. Marin

Partners

Super Lawyers® honorees · members of the American Association for Justice · concentrating in personal injury and mass-tort litigation.

Whether any individual has a claim depends on their medical records and the law of their state. The information below covers the litigation itself.

What the Public Record Means for California Patients

California patients who developed an infection after an ERCP, colonoscopy, or bronchoscopy procedure performed with an Olympus scope may have legal rights in the ongoing Olympus scope product liability litigation. Two major Los Angeles hospitals — UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center — were named in the national Olympus scope investigation. California has a 2-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims.

California and the Olympus Scope Litigation

Yes — California patients who developed a serious infection after an endoscopic procedure performed with an Olympus scope may have legal rights against Olympus Corporation, the device manufacturer. The litigation targets Olympus’s failure to provide adequate reprocessing instructions — not any negligence by the treating hospital or physician. California has a direct connection to this litigation, with two named Los Angeles hospitals — UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center — receiving the most serious regulatory citation available under California and federal standards.

In October 2025, Olympus issued an Urgent Field Safety Notice for its current-generation TJF-series duodenoscopes, updating its reprocessing instructions and issuing a Visual Inspection Guide that recommends 10X magnification for enhanced inspection. Olympus reported two deaths and five serious injuries from infection potentially related to these duodenoscopes since 2024, while stating the available reports did not contain sufficient information for it to determine whether the device caused the infections.

(Olympus Urgent Field Safety Notice, October 2025.) California has a 2-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims, which generally runs from the date the qualifying infection developed.

What Is the Olympus Scope Lawsuit?

The Olympus scope lawsuit is a product liability litigation against Olympus Corporation of the Americas — the device manufacturer — for providing hospitals with inadequate cleaning and reprocessing instructions for its endoscopes. Olympus holds approximately 70–80% of the U.S. endoscope market. Patients who developed serious infections after scope procedures argue that Olympus’s instructions were insufficient to prevent transmission of bacteria and other pathogens from prior patients.

On December 10, 2018, Olympus Medical Systems Corporation and a former senior executive pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing misbranded medical devices and paid $85 million in penalties — admitting they failed to report adverse event information to the FDA. (DOJ press release, December 10, 2018; Case No. 2:18-cr-00727-SRC, D.N.J.) Olympus admitted failing to report scope contamination data during the same years that California hospitals were reporting scope-linked infection outbreaks.

See our Olympus criminal history page for full details on the guilty plea. The October 2025 Urgent Field Safety Notice updated Olympus’s reprocessing instructions and introduced a Visual Inspection Guide recommending 10X magnification. Olympus reported two deaths and five serious injuries from infection potentially related to current-generation TJF scopes since 2024, while stating it could not determine from the available reports whether the device caused the infections.

(Olympus UFSN, October 2025.) In December 2024, the MAJ-891 Class I Recall covered 30,140 units of the MAJ-891 Forceps/Irrigation Plug — associated with 120 reported injuries and 1 reported death following procedures in which the MAJ-891 accessory was used with a cystoscope (not a duodenoscope). (FDA Recall Z-0905-2025.) As of June 2026, no MDL has been filed or is currently pending; cases are proceeding as individual lawsuits in federal and state courts.

Why California Patients Are at Risk

Olympus holds approximately 70–80% of the U.S. endoscope market. The majority of California hospitals performing ERCP, colonoscopy, and bronchoscopy procedures use Olympus devices. Two major Los Angeles hospitals are directly named in the national investigation: UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA) — 17 patients identified in the outbreak: 9 confirmed active infections, 7 asymptomatic carriers, and 1 index patient.

The pathogen was blaOXA-232 carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. Two patients died. Approximately 179 patients were potentially exposed. A field investigation confirmed no deviations from FDA or manufacturer reprocessing recommendations. (Humphries et al., PMID 29579235.) See our UCLA Medical Center page for full details.Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA) — 4 confirmed CRE cases identified. Approximately 71 patients potentially exposed. The pathogen was Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

See our Cedars-Sinai Medical Center page for full details. Additional major California systems where scope procedures are routinely performed include the state’s academic medical centers, high-volume GI referral hospitals, and large integrated health systems. No specific outbreak is being asserted as to any individual California facility. Olympus’s dominant market share makes these systems statistically likely users of Olympus devices.

The FDA’s MAUDE adverse event database may contain relevant reports from California facilities beyond those named in the national investigation.

Criteria for This Litigation

The following criteria define eligibility for this litigation:

• ☐  Procedure date on or after January 1, 2015.
• ☐  Procedure performed with an Olympus bronchoscope, upper GI endoscope, or colonoscope.
• ☐  Confirmed infection diagnosis required.
• ☐  Inpatient hospitalization for the infection required. Outpatient treatment with oral antibiotics alone does not qualify.
• ☐  IV antibiotic treatment during hospitalization required.
• ☐  Infection and hospitalization within 30 days of scope procedure. Most patients in this litigation developed symptoms within approximately five days.
• ☐  No active dialysis or chemotherapy.

Device disintegration: If the scope or any component broke apart during your procedure and required emergency surgery to remove fragments, this may represent a separate product liability claim.

Frequently Asked Questions: Olympus Scope Lawsuit California

Can California patients file an Olympus scope lawsuit?

Yes — California patients who developed a qualifying infection after a scope procedure performed with an Olympus device may have legal rights in this product liability litigation. California has a documented connection to this litigation — two Los Angeles hospitals (UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center) were both named in the national investigation. Both outbreaks were reported in regulatory and peer-reviewed sources.

What is the filing deadline for California Olympus scope claims?

California has a 2-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims. The clock generally runs from the date of injury — the date you developed the qualifying infection. For scope-linked infections, most patients in this litigation developed symptoms within approximately five days of the procedure. Even if you believe your filing deadline may have passed, you should not assume you have no options. Depending on the circumstances of your case and how a potential global resolution is structured, there may still be options worth exploring with an attorney.

Which California hospitals use Olympus scopes?

Olympus holds approximately 70–80% of the U.S. endoscope market. The majority of California hospitals performing ERCP, colonoscopy, and bronchoscopy use Olympus devices. UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center — both in Los Angeles — are directly named in the national Olympus scope investigation. UCLA: 17 patients identified, 2 deaths, 179 potentially exposed, OXA-232 CRE Klebsiella (Humphries et al., PMID 29579235).

Cedars-Sinai: 4 confirmed CRE cases, approximately 71 potentially exposed (LA County Department of Public Health, 2015).

I had an ERCP at a California hospital and developed an infection — what should I do?

Preserve your procedure records and infection diagnosis records. Patients who developed an infection may wish to consult an attorney about their options. The two most important pieces of documentation are: (1) the procedure record identifying the specific Olympus scope model and date of the procedure; and (2) infection diagnosis records confirming the type of organism and date of diagnosis.

What is the Olympus scope lawsuit?

The Olympus scope lawsuit is a product liability litigation against Olympus Corporation for providing hospitals with inadequate reprocessing instructions for its endoscopes. Olympus pleaded guilty in 2018 to failing to report adverse events to the FDA and paid $85 million in penalties. (DOJ press release, December 10, 2018.) In October 2025, Olympus updated its reprocessing instructions for current-generation TJF duodenoscopes and issued a Visual Inspection Guide recommending 10X magnification, following reports of two deaths and five serious injuries from infection potentially related to those devices that Olympus stated it could not conclusively attribute to the duodenoscopes.

Who qualifies to file in California?

Qualifying criteria: procedure date 2015 or later; procedure performed with an Olympus bronchoscope, upper GI endoscope, or colonoscope; confirmed infection diagnosis; inpatient hospitalization requiring IV antibiotic treatment; infection occurring within 30 days of the scope procedure.

How much is a California Olympus scope claim worth?

Case value varies based on the severity of the infection, the patient’s age and medical condition, the degree of life disruption, and whether the infection caused permanent harm or death. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

A June 2026 Washington wrongful-death filing, Bruto Da Costa v. Olympus (W.D. Wash.), is among the most recent Olympus duodenoscope cases — see the Olympus scope lawsuit overview for details.