Olympus Colonoscopy Lawsuit Over C. Diff Infection Set for Status Hearing in September 2026

Case highlights concerns that bacteria may remain inside reusable Olympus colonoscopes and expose patients to serious infections during routine procedures.

A federal judge will meet with attorneys for Olympus Corporation and a Chicago woman who alleges a defectively designed colonoscope caused her to develop a serious infection after a colonoscopy.

Denise Hopkins brought the Olympus scope infection lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on July 9, naming Olympus and several of its subsidiaries as the defendants. The case has since been assigned to U.S. District Judge Sunil R. Harjani.

According to Hopkins, a non-sterile Olympus CF-HQ190L colonoscope used during an August 2024 colonoscopy caused her to develop a Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection that led to permanent life-long injuries.

C. diff is a bacterial infection that can cause severe diarrhea and inflammation of the colon. Although it frequently affects patients following healthcare exposure or antibiotic use, Hopkins’ lawsuit claims her infection was caused by contamination remaining inside the reusable Olympus colonoscope.

Olympus Colonoscope Concerns

Colonoscopes belong to a category of surgical cameras known as endoscopes. Containing small cameras, lights, long narrow channels and moving parts, endoscopes are used during procedures including ERCP, colonoscopy, upper endoscopy and bronchoscopy. 

The devices are inserted into the body, allowing doctors to examine internal organs, make medical diagnoses and perform certain procedures without the need for surgery. Therefore, it is key that they are thoroughly sterilized between uses, to avoid the spread of infectious biological material.

However, the design of many endoscopes makes them difficult to fully clean and sterilize between procedures, a process known as reprocessing. As a result, bacteria, biofilm, tissue and other debris can remain trapped inside the scopes, particularly in narrow channels or damaged areas that are difficult to inspect, potentially allowing infections to spread from one patient to another.

Several Olympus colonoscopy lawsuits have been filed in courts nationwide, each of which raises similar allegations that the manufacturer’s colonoscopes are defectively designed, placing patients at increased risk of dangerous, and sometimes deadly, infections and bloodborne diseases.

Colonoscopy Infection Trial

Last month a minutes entry (PDF) was made on Hopkins’ docket, announcing that Judge Harjani has scheduled an initial status hearing for September 29 to address her claims. This will be a telephone conference between the judge and legal counsel for both sides to determine the current status of the litigation, issues that need to be resolved and how the case should move forward.

Before the status hearing, Judge Harjani ordered the parties to prepare a joint initial status report and file it with the court by September 22. He noted that all defendants who have been served are expected to participate, regardless of whether they have yet to respond to Hopkins’ complaint.

The lawsuit includes claims of defective design, failure to warn, manufacturing defect, negligence, negligence per se, gross negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent misrepresentation and fraudulent concealment. It is seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

Olympus Colonoscopy Lawsuits

The latest medical scope complaints are not the first time device manufacturers, such as Olympus and Fujifilm, have come under scrutiny for their optics and photographic equipment. In 2014 and 2015, duodenoscopes used during ERCP procedures were linked to an outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection known as carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales (CRE).

These infections were also linked to design problems that made sterilization difficult. The subject scopes contained a movable “elevator” at the tip, which contained cracks and crevices where pathogens, blood and tissue persisted even after the manufacturers’ sterilization and cleaning instructions were followed.

In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a duodenoscope warning, alerting the medical community that the manufacturers had failed to conduct the proper post-marketing surveillance to ensure the devices were as safe in real-world use as they had been during clinical trials.

Under the FDA’s direction, the industry has since moved toward using disposable elevator tips to reduce infection risks, but these latest Olympus colonoscopy lawsuits suggest that problems may still remain.

Colonoscopy infection lawyers are investigating potential lawsuits for those who developed infections after undergoing a medical procedure with a reusable surgical scope, including:

To determine whether you or a family member may qualify for a surgical scope product liability lawsuit, submit your information for a free case evaluation. An attorney can review your situation, explain your legal rights and determine whether you may be eligible to pursue compensation.

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