Tuberculosis After Bronchoscopy Lawsuit — Legal Rights for TB Patients

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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

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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.

If you developed tuberculosis after a bronchoscopy procedure, you may have a product liability claim against Olympus Corporation. TB transmission from contaminated Olympus bronchoscopes is a confirmed qualifying injury type in this litigation. Patients who developed active tuberculosis following a bronchoscopy — including MDR-TB or XDR-TB — should contact an attorney promptly.

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.

Can Tuberculosis Be Transmitted Through a Contaminated Bronchoscope?

Yes — tuberculosis transmission through a contaminated bronchoscope is a documented route of infection. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a respiratory pathogen that can survive in the biopsy and suction channels of flexible bronchoscopes even after standard high-level disinfection reprocessing. Unlike upper GI scopes that carry gastrointestinal pathogens, bronchoscopes enter the respiratory tract directly — placing the contaminated instrument in immediate contact with lung tissue and airways.

Contaminated bronchoscopes have been documented in peer-reviewed medical literature as vehicles for Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission since 1983 (Nelson et al., Am Rev Respir Dis. 1983;127(1):97-100). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated a 1995 outbreak in South Carolina in which a single contaminated bronchoscope transmitted a multidrug-resistant strain of M. tuberculosis (strain W1) between patients; two of the affected patients died of MDR-TB within one month of diagnosis (Michele TM et al., JAMA. 1997;278(13):1073-1077).

A 2003 New England Journal of Medicine outbreak investigation traced a hospital-wide Pseudomonas aeruginosa outbreak to a manufacturing defect in flexible bronchoscopes subject to a subsequent nationwide recall; 9.4% of patients undergoing bronchoscopy during the outbreak developed respiratory tract or bloodstream infections (Srinivasan A et al., N Engl J Med. 2003;348(3):221-227). A 2002 Chest outbreak investigation traced post-bronchoscopy M. tuberculosis-positive cultures to a single bronchoscope with sheath damage where reprocessing failed because manufacturer-required leak testing was not performed (Lee JS et al., Chest. 2002;121(5):1791-1793.

PMID: 11888985). A comprehensive 2020 Chest review of the FDA’s MAUDE adverse-event database concluded that bronchoscopes pose continuing risks of multidrug-resistant organism transmission, with the same fundamental reprocessing challenges arising from complex internal channel design and biofilm formation (Mehta AC, Muscarella LF. Chest. 2020;157(2):454-469). In October 2025, Olympus issued an Urgent Field Safety Notice admitting that prior reprocessing protocols were insufficient to detect contamination without 10X magnification tools that hospitals had never previously been instructed to use (Olympus Urgent Field Safety Notice, October 14–17, 2025).

Two confirmed deaths and five serious injuries linked to these devices were reported.

What Is the Difference Between Active TB and MDR-TB After Bronchoscopy?

Active TB: The patient develops active tuberculosis disease following the bronchoscopy. Symptoms include persistent cough, fever, night sweats, unintentional weight loss, and in some cases hemoptysis. Active TB directly transmitted from a prior patient through the scope is the clearest causation scenario for litigation purposes. Drug-Resistant TB: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampin.

MDR-TB treatment requires 18–24 months with second-line drugs. Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is resistant to most available drugs and can result in permanent lung damage or death. MDR-TB and XDR-TB cases are elevated-value matters and should be flagged for direct attorney review. Contact an attorney to discuss whether your specific facts support a claim.

What Is Olympus’s Responsibility for TB Transmission?

The legal argument in this litigation is that Olympus — not the hospital — was responsible for providing safe reprocessing 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. On December 10, 2018, Olympus pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing misbranded medical devices and paid $85 million in penalties — admitting it failed to file FDA-required adverse-event reports (DOJ press release, December 10, 2018; Case No. 2:18-cr-00727-SRC, D.N.J.). In October 2025, Olympus issued its Urgent Field Safety Notice admitting that prior reprocessing protocols for current-generation TJF-series duodenoscopes were insufficient (Olympus UFSN, October 14–17, 2025).

Hospital staff had followed Olympus’s instructions. Olympus wrote those instructions and knew they were inadequate.

What Qualifying Injuries May Support a Legal Claim After a TB Diagnosis?

• Procedure date 2015 or later. The bronchoscopy procedure must have occurred on or after January 1, 2015.
• Olympus bronchoscope. Procedures performed with Olympus bronchoscopes are within intake criteria. Olympus holds a dominant share of the US bronchoscope market.
• Confirmed TB diagnosis. A confirmed infection diagnosis is required. For TB, this includes positive sputum culture, positive TB test (IGRA or TST), or positive chest imaging with clinical confirmation.
• Inpatient hospitalization. Inpatient hospitalization for the TB infection is required.
• IV or intensive antibiotic treatment. IV antibiotic treatment during hospitalization is required.
• Infection window. TB incubation periods are longer than CRE — typical incubation for primary active TB is 2–12 weeks from exposure. Document the procedure date and the date of first TB symptom onset carefully.
• MDR-TB and XDR-TB cases: Flag immediately for direct attorney review. These are elevated-value matters.
• Permanent lung function impairment: If pulmonary function testing documents permanent impairment, preserve all PFT records.

What Should I Do If I Was Diagnosed With TB After a Bronchoscopy?

1. Preserve all TB diagnosis records including sputum cultures, TB test results, chest imaging, drug sensitivity testing results, and dates of all tests and diagnoses. MDR-TB or XDR-TB drug sensitivity test results are especially important.
2. Preserve the bronchoscopy procedure record identifying the specific Olympus bronchoscope model, serial number, facility, and date of the procedure.
3. Obtain pulmonary function test results if lung function impairment is documented. Permanent lung damage from TB is a significant component of damages.
4. If diagnosed with MDR-TB or XDR-TB — contact an attorney immediately and ask to speak with a mass tort attorney directly. These are elevated-priority matters.
5. Contact Marin & Murphy for a free confidential consultation.

Marin & Murphy Law Firm is investigating Olympus scope infection claims for patients in Rhode Island, South Carolina, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and nationwide. Contact us at (888) 348-2735. The consultation is free and creates no obligation.

Frequently Asked Questions

terial load that triggered activation, or whether the procedure itself created conditions that permitted activation of pre-existing latent infection.

Contact an attorney to discuss the specific facts of your case.

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

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