UCLA Ronald Reagan Scope Infection Lawsuit

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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

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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.

UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles, California was named in the U.S. Senate HELP Committee report as one of the U.S. hospitals named in a national outbreak linked to contaminated Olympus duodenoscopes. California patients have legal rights against Olympus — not UCLA — but California has a two-year filing deadline. If you had a scope procedure at UCLA Ronald Reagan and developed an infection, the time to act is now.

What Did the Senate Investigation Find About UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center?

In January 2016, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee published “Preventable Tragedies: Superbugs and How Ineffective Monitoring of Medical Device Safety Fails Patients.” The report named UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles, California as one of the U.S. hospitals that experienced outbreaks of carbapenem-resistant bacterial infections linked to contaminated Olympus duodenoscopes.

(Source: Senate HELP Committee, January 13, 2016.) Between 2014 and 2015, a CRE outbreak at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center linked to Olympus duodenoscopes became one of the most extensively documented hospital-acquired infection events in recent American medical history. A peer-reviewed investigation published in Clinical Infectious Diseases identified 17 patients who acquired carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae of the rare OXA-232 strain through scope-related exposure at UCLA.

Of those 17 patients, 9 had confirmed active infections, 7 were asymptomatic carriers, and 1 was the probable index patient. Separately, a joint investigation by the CDC, Los Angeles County, and UCLA determined that approximately 179 patients had been potentially exposed to the contaminated duodenoscopes during the outbreak period, and two patients died. A field investigation found no deviations from FDA or manufacturer reprocessing recommendations — UCLA Ronald Reagan reported following Olympus’s reprocessing instructions provided at the relevant time, and the field investigation found no deviations from FDA or manufacturer reprocessing recommendations.

The instructions themselves were the source of the failure. (Sources: Humphries et al., Clin Infect Dis, 2017, PMID 29579235 [17 patients, OXA-232, HLD no-deviation finding];.) The committee estimated that at least 250 patients worldwide contracted potentially deadly infections from contaminated Olympus duodenoscopes — and stated this figure is likely a significant undercount, because many scope-related infections are never linked to a procedure that occurred days or weeks earlier.

The committee concluded that Olympus was aware of contamination problems years before issuing public warnings and that FDA oversight of medical device safety was inadequate. Across the U.S. hospitals named in the Senate HELP Committee report, contamination occurred even where hospitals reported following Olympus’s reprocessing instructions — a pattern plaintiffs attribute to the duodenoscope’s elevator-channel design rather than to hospital error.

Yet standard high-level disinfection leaves approximately a significant share of patient-ready duodenoscopes contaminated with gastrointestinal bacteria even when staff follow manufacturer instructions to the letter. (Source: Larsen S, et al., EClinicalMedicine. 2020;25:100451. PMID: 32954234.) California patients have two years from injury to act.

What Did Olympus Know Before the National Outbreaks Were Made Public?

By the time the UCLA outbreak occurred in 2014–2015, Olympus was not encountering this problem for the first time. The company had already been directly notified of a nearly identical duodenoscope-associated outbreak at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle between 2012 and 2014, where 4 of 8 Olympus duodenoscopes transmitted multidrug-resistant infections to dozens of patients, several of whom died. Olympus was also aware of similar contamination events at European hospitals as early as 2012.

Despite that knowledge, Olympus issued no public recall and no general warning to U.S. hospitals. (Source: DOJ Press Release.) The full extent of Olympus’s failure to report became a matter of public record in December 2018. Olympus Medical Systems Corporation and former senior executive Hisao Yabe pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing misbranded medical devices. (Case No. 2:18-cr-00727-SRC, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey.) The company paid $85 million in penalties during the period when the national outbreaks occurred.

(Source: DOJ press release, December 10, 2018.) In October 2025, Olympus issued an Urgent Field Safety Notice admitting that prior reprocessing protocols for current-generation TJF-series duodenoscopes were insufficient — and that hospitals were now required to use 10X magnification inspection tools never previously required. The notice confirmed 2 deaths and 5 serious injuries linked to current-generation TJF duodenoscopes.

(Source: Olympus Urgent Field Safety Notice, October 14–17, 2025.) This admission applies retroactively to every ERCP performed at UCLA Ronald Reagan before October 2025. The legal argument is direct: Olympus supplied the scopes to UCLA. Olympus wrote the cleaning instructions. UCLA followed those instructions without any deviation. Olympus had already been told — by Virginia Mason and by European hospitals — that those instructions were inadequate, and it chose not to warn U.S. hospitals.

Plaintiffs allege that liability runs to the manufacturer — not to the hospital that used the equipment as directed.

Why California Patients Must Act Now

California has a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims. The specific start date may vary depending on when you received notice of a possible connection between your health issues and your procedure. Because the timing rules are fact-specific, consult an attorney promptly rather than waiting and potentially forfeiting options. Even if you believe your filing window may have passed, consult an attorney before concluding you have no options — the discovery rule may apply to your situation.

Patients who received a letter from UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center or another California hospital notifying them of a potential device-related patient safety event should treat that letter as time-sensitive evidence. It documents the hospital’s acknowledgment of a potential device-related patient safety event — relevant evidence in a claim against Olympus. Preserve that letter. The device manufacturer — Olympus Corporation — is the subject of pending litigation.

UCLA Ronald Reagan is not the defendant.

Do You Qualify? Confirming Your Potential Claim

This litigation has confirmed intake criteria. Review the checklist below. If your situation matches, consult a qualified attorney promptly — California’s two-year deadline means every day matters.

What Should You Do Right Now?

If you are a California patient, you have two years to act. Complete these five steps — starting today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center responsible for the CRE outbreak?

A federal and state investigation found no deviations from FDA or manufacturer reprocessing instructions by UCLA staff. The hospital followed Olympus’s instructions — the instructions themselves were inadequate. This distinction is legally significant: it means the failure originated with the device manufacturer, not the clinical staff at UCLA. The hospital is not a defendant in this litigation.

How many patients were affected at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center?

Seventeen patients developed the OXA-232 strain of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae; approximately 179 patients were potentially exposed; and two patients died. The 17-patient count, OXA-232 identification, and HLD no-deviation finding are from Humphries et al. (PMID 29579235); the 179 exposed and 2 deaths figures are from Humphries et al. (PMID 29579235).

What bacteria caused the UCLA outbreak?

The organism was OXA-232 carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae — a rare superbug in the carbapenemase-producing CRE family that is extremely difficult to treat. (Humphries et al., PMID 29579235.) CRE organisms of this class resist last-resort carbapenem antibiotics, leaving clinicians with limited options and contributing to the high mortality associated with these infections.

I had an ERCP at UCLA — what should I do?

Preserve any letter you received from the hospital, request your complete procedure and medical records, and consult an attorney promptly. California has a two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims, and the specific date from which your clock runs depends on when you first received notice of a potential connection between your health issues and your scope procedure.

Can I still file a lawsuit if the UCLA outbreak happened years ago?

The California statute of limitations for personal injury claims is generally two years, but the start date depends on when you first learned of a connection between your illness and your scope procedure. Do not self-disqualify without consulting an attorney before concluding that your time has passed.

What is Olympus Corporation’s legal responsibility in the UCLA outbreak?

Olympus supplied the scopes, wrote the cleaning instructions, and had been notified of similar events at other hospitals before the UCLA outbreak. In December 2018, Olympus pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing misbranded medical devices and admitted to failing to report adverse event information to the FDA during the outbreak period. (DOJ press release, December 10, 2018.) These admissions form the evidentiary core of the legal argument against Olympus in UCLA-related claims.

How do I know if an Olympus scope was used during my UCLA procedure?

Request your complete procedure record from UCLA — it should identify the specific scope model and serial number used during your ERCP or related procedure. If you have difficulty obtaining these records, an attorney can assist through formal channels. The model number determines whether your procedure falls within the October 2025 Olympus Urgent Field Safety Notice and the applicable FDA recall history.

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.

Attorney Advertising. Marin & Murphy Law Firm is licensed only in Rhode Island, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and is not licensed to practice law in California. This page is provided for general informational purposes only. It is not legal advice, does not create an attorney-client relationship, and does not constitute an offer to represent any California resident. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.