Sepsis After Endoscopy Lawsuit — Legal Rights for Patients Who Developed Sepsis From a Contaminated Scope

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Olympus Scope — Infection Claims

Hospitalized With an Infection After a Scope Procedure?

If you were told it was “just a complication,” Olympus’s federal guilty plea — and $85 million in penalties — tell a different story. In two minutes, you can know whether your case qualifies.

ACTIVE LITIGATION. 250+ patients · most recent filing: June 2026 · deadlines vary by state — some as short as one year.

Were you hospitalized with an infection within 30 days of an endoscopy or scope procedure?

Yes — See If My Case Qualifiesfree · takes 2 minutes
I think so / not sure

Free · confidential · no fee unless there is a recovery · answering doesn’t commit you to anything. Court costs and litigation expenses are advanced by counsel and repaid from the recovery. You are not responsible for court costs or litigation expenses if there is no recovery, unless a court directs otherwise. The attorney’s fee is a percentage of the gross recovery, calculated before expenses are deducted.

Prefer to talk it through? (888) 348-2735 — free and confidential.

Stefanie A. Murphy & Matthew T. Marin

Partners

You’ll get a straight answer even if it’s “you don’t qualify.” Everything you share is confidential — even if you never hire us. No fee unless there is a recovery; costs are advanced and reimbursed only out of a recovery. If you do qualify, our Olympus scope litigation team requests the medical and hospital records — you don’t chase them.

Qualification depends on what the medical records show — the scope involved, the infection, and the timing. We’ll review them and give you a straight answer either way.

Sepsis following a scope procedure may be linked to a contaminated Olympus device. If you developed sepsis requiring hospitalization and IV antibiotics within 30 days of an endoscopy, colonoscopy, or bronchoscopy, you may have a product liability claim against Olympus Corporation. Sepsis is the most serious qualifying infection outcome in this litigation. Marin & Murphy Law Firm is investigating post-endoscopy sepsis claims nationwide.

Court costs and litigation expenses are advanced by counsel and repaid from the recovery. You are not responsible for court costs or litigation expenses if there is no recovery, unless a court directs otherwise. The attorney’s fee is a percentage of the gross recovery, calculated before expenses are deducted.

What Is Sepsis and How Does Endoscopy Cause It?

Sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency caused by a dysregulated immune response to infection. When bacteria enter the bloodstream, the immune system’s attempt to fight the infection can itself cause widespread organ dysfunction and death. Septicemia, sepsis, and septic shock represent different points on the same clinical continuum — all may qualify under the confirmed intake criteria for this litigation. During an endoscopic procedure, the scope passes through the gastrointestinal tract, biliary system, or airways — areas that are not sterile.

Under normal conditions, the mucosal lining of these structures provides a barrier against systemic infection. But when a contaminated scope introduces bacteria directly into the tissue during a procedure — particularly during ERCP, where the scope enters the biliary system — that barrier can be bypassed. Bacteria that survive reprocessing from a prior patient can enter the bloodstream during the procedure and cause sepsis within hours to days.

The patients at highest risk are those who are already immunocompromised: patients with cancer, chronic liver disease, kidney disease, diabetes, or advanced age. For these patients, a scope-introduced infection that might be manageable in a healthy adult can rapidly progress to septic shock and death. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) bloodstream infections — the most common pathogen linked to confirmed scope contamination outbreaks — are associated with mortality rates approaching 50%.

(Source: CDC MMWR Vital Signs, March 5, 2013.) Research confirms that contamination of scope channels persists despite standard reprocessing protocols. Standard high-level disinfection leaves approximately 15% of patient-ready duodenoscopes contaminated with gastrointestinal bacteria even when hospital staff follow manufacturer instructions exactly. (Source: Larsen S, et al., EClinicalMedicine. 2020;25:100451. PMID: 32954234.) A 2022 meta-analysis of 9,084 post-reprocessing cultures found 5% contamination even after enhanced cleaning protocols; 0.8% grew high-risk organisms.

(Source: Bomman et al., Clinical Endoscopy, January 2022, PMC8831410.) An 8-year retrospective study found that by 2022, 94.7% of patient-ready scopes showed measurable bacterial contamination of any type — and that every manufacturer-recommended intervention failed to produce a meaningful reduction. (Source: van der Ploeg et al., Gut, March 2024, PMID 38182137.)

Which Outbreaks Documented Sepsis After Scope Procedures?

The documented hospital outbreaks in the Olympus scope litigation provide the most powerful evidence of the connection between contaminated scopes and life-threatening infection. Each of the following outbreaks involved patients who developed serious infections — many with septic presentations — after scope procedures:

Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle, WA): 32 patients were infected with multidrug-resistant E. coli between November 2012 and August 2013. Seven died within 31 days of their positive culture. By March 2015, 16 patients had died. The investigation confirmed that no breach in the hospital’s high-level disinfection protocol was identified — the contamination survived standard reprocessing. Four of eight Olympus duodenoscopes tested were culture-positive. (Source: Ross et al., Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, September 2015, PMID 26092616.)

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA): 17 patients were affected, including 9 confirmed active infections, 7 asymptomatic carriers, and 1 index patient. Two patients died. Approximately 179 patients were potentially exposed. The pathogen was blaOXA-232 carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae — a CRE infection with a high progression-to-sepsis rate. No deviation from FDA or manufacturer reprocessing recommendations was identified. (Source: Humphries et al., Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2017, PMID 29579235) Senate HELP Committee Findings (January 13, 2016): The U.S. Senate Health Committee estimated at least 250 patients worldwide contracted potentially deadly infections from contaminated duodenoscopes — and explicitly stated that this figure was likely a significant undercount.

Multiple U.S. hospitals were named in the report. (Source: Senate HELP Committee, “Preventable Tragedies,” January 13, 2016.)

What Is Olympus’s Responsibility for Post-Endoscopy Sepsis?

The Olympus enforcement record establishes that the company knew its cleaning instructions were inadequate and failed to warn hospitals and patients. In December 2018, Olympus Medical Systems Corporation pleaded guilty in federal court to three counts — and former senior executive Hisao Yabe to one count — of distributing misbranded medical devices. Olympus paid $85 million in penalties and admitted that it had failed to file required adverse-event reports — including known infection events — to the FDA.

(Source: DOJ Press Release, December 10, 2018; Case No. 2:18-cr-00727-SRC, D.N.J.) The FDA’s enforcement record spans more than a decade. In February 2015, 75 Medical Device Reports involving approximately 135 patients had been filed before the FDA issued its first public safety communication. (Source: FDA Safety Communication, February 19, 2015.) In a March 9, 2018 Warning Letter (MARCS-CMS 546986), the FDA cited Olympus Medical Systems Corporation for failing to comply with a Section 522 postmarket surveillance order issued October 5, 2015: as of February 20, 2018, zero sites had been enrolled in the required Sampling and Culturing Study.

In a March 15, 2023 Warning Letter (MARCS-CMS 654013), the FDA documented that Olympus had not investigated complaints of cracked MAJ-2315 distal end covers for roughly two years. In October 2025, Olympus issued an Urgent Field Safety Notice for its current-generation TJF-series duodenoscopes — updating its reprocessing instructions and recommending that 10X magnification tools be used to identify component damage that had never previously been disclosed. Two confirmed deaths and five serious injuries were linked to those current-generation devices.

(Source: Olympus Urgent Field Safety Notice, October 2025.) The contamination mechanism that causes post-endoscopy sepsis — biological material surviving reprocessing and being introduced into the next patient during a procedure — is the direct result of Olympus’s inadequate instructions and its failure to report to the FDA. The legal argument: Olympus — not the hospital — was responsible for providing safe cleaning instructions.

Hospitals reported following the reprocessing instructions provided by Olympus at the relevant time. Whether those instructions were adequate, and whether they were in fact followed in every case, are contested issues that have been examined in litigation and in 2016 Senate HELP Committee findings. Olympus knew those instructions were inadequate and failed to warn hospitals and patients. That failure caused patients to develop sepsis and die.

Does a Sepsis Diagnosis After Endoscopy Qualify Me to File?

Sepsis is among the most serious qualifying injuries in this litigation. If you developed sepsis after an endoscopy, colonoscopy, or bronchoscopy, the following confirmed intake criteria apply:

Notice of exposure? If you received a notice of exposure after an Olympus scope procedure, you may qualify even without a confirmed infection diagnosis — contact us to review your situation.

A sepsis diagnosis is among the strongest forms of documentation available in these cases. Blood culture results identifying the causative organism, sepsis coding in the hospital discharge summary, and ICU admission records all contribute to establishing both the injury and the clinical severity that drives case value. If a patient died from post-endoscopy sepsis, the estate may be able to pursue a wrongful death claim.

Death cases from sepsis following scope procedures represent the highest tier of case value in this litigation. Contact Marin & Murphy today for a free case evaluation: (888) 348-2735.

What Should I Do If I Was Diagnosed With Sepsis After an Endoscopy?

If you or a family member was diagnosed with sepsis following an endoscopy, colonoscopy, or bronchoscopy, take the following steps:

1. Request your complete medical records, including the original procedure report identifying the endoscope model and serial number used. Ask specifically for the scope model — Olympus device model numbers include TJF (duodenoscopes), CF (colonoscopes), GIF (gastroscopes), and BF (bronchoscopes).
2. Request your infection records including blood culture results. If CRE (carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae), NDM-1 producing E. coli, or Klebsiella pneumoniae was identified as the causative organism, that finding significantly strengthens causation. The specific organism matters.
3. Obtain your ICU and hospitalization records documenting the sepsis diagnosis, treatment course, and severity of illness. Hospital discharge summaries that include ICD codes for sepsis or septicemia are particularly valuable.
4. Check whether you received a letter from your hospital about your endoscopy procedure. If you received such a letter following the October 2025 Olympus Urgent Field Safety Notice, preserve it.
5. Contact a sepsis after endoscopy attorney immediately. Filing deadlines vary by state and can run as short as one year in some states from the date of the sepsis diagnosis. Even if you believe your filing deadline has passed, contact us before assuming you have no options.

Marin & Murphy Law Firm is investigating Olympus scope infection and sepsis claims for patients in Rhode Island, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. The firm associates with locally licensed co-counsel to pursue claims nationwide. Contact us at (888) 348-2735. The consultation is free and creates no obligation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Matthew T. Marin, J.D. — Admitted in Rhode Island, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Massachusetts

Stefanie A. Murphy, J.D. — Admitted in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts

Qualifying infection types

• Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)
• NDM-1-producing E. coli
• ESBL-producing organisms
• Klebsiella pneumoniae
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• VRE
• MRSA
• Sepsis (with hospitalization + IV antibiotics within 30 days)
• other multidrug-resistant or healthcare-associated bloodstream infection confirmed by culture