The maker of medical scopes blamed for spreading dozens of “superbug” infections at Virginia Mason Medical Center claims the hospital failed to use and clean the device properly, according to the Seattle Times.
Olympus America filed a cross-claim late in King County Superior Court against Virginia Mason. The hospital last month joined a lawsuit filed by the widow of a Seattle-area man who died in 2013 of a massive infection after being treated with an allegedly contaminated scope.
Olympus said in the countersuit that Virginia Mason failed to use and clean the device properly and that the hospital damaged the company’s reputation with claims that the firm’s duodenoscope could not be properly cleaned.
In addition, the firm claimed Virginia Mason was “entirely at fault” for the death of Richard Bigler, 57, of Woodway, who had pancreatic cancer and died after becoming infected with a drug-resistant E. coli infection allegedly linked to the scope, the article said.
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