Between 2012 and 2014, at least 32 patients at Virginia
Mason Medical Center were infected with strains of
multidrug-resistant E. coli bacteria spread through
contaminated scopes that had been sterilized to the
manufacturer's guidelines, according to state health
officials.At least 11 people eventually died, though the role of the superbug in their demise was unclear because all the patients were critically ill at the time of their infection, Washington state public health officials said.
In March, the wife of one of the deceased, Theresa Bigler, filed a lawsuit against Olympus America, part of Olympus Corp. Bigler said her husband, Richard Bigler, died in 2013 from pancreatic cancer and an E. coli bacterial infection contracted from one of the company's faulty medical scopes.
On Monday, Virginia Mason said it had joined Bigler's lawsuit because Olympus America knew its duodenoscopes, which are used to treat illness in the pancreas and bile ducts, could harbor germs even after being cleaned to manufacturer and federal guidelines.
"Olympus failed to inform our organization about this safety risk associated with its product," said Andrew Ross, the head of gastroenterology at Virginia Mason. "Their silence on this important issue was unethical, irresponsible and put patient lives at risk."
Bigler's original lawsuit also named Virginia Mason
for deciding not to tell people who had undergone
procedures with the scopes that they might have been
infected. It took hospital officials two years to
pinpoint the source of the contamination.
