U.S. lawmakers are wondering why European hospitals were warned about contaminated duodenoscopes two years before the deadly Superbug outbreak in Los Angeles and U.S. health care providers weren’t warned until earlier this year.
Two warning letters Olympus Corp sent to European hospitals in 2013 and 2014 about contamination of the TJF-Q180V duodenoscope recently surfaced, adding more fuel to the controversy surrounding the medical devices used to diagnose and treat a number of diseases.
Olympus Corp., the manufacturer of the scrutinized endoscope, did not take action in the U.S. until after the February 2015 outbreak at UCLA and Cedars-Sinai medical centers.
