The lawsuit was filed by the family of Antonia Torres Cerda, 48, who died in November, and was allegedly infected by deadly bacteria following a liver transplant. The lawsuit accuses the maker of the medical scopes of wrongful death, negligence and fraud and demands an unspecified amount of punitive and exemplary damages.

Cerda was given a procedure for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) prior to the liver transplant, and she underwent a second procedure afterwards. The procedures were carried out with a duodenoscope made by Japan’s Olympus Medical System Corp. and sold and marketed by Olympus Medical System Corp. and Olympus Corp. of the Americas.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, each year approximately 500,000 people undergo procedures with duodenoscopes, which are flexible tubes inserted down the throat and reaching into the small intestines. However, the scopes in question are suspected of playing a role in an outbreak of deadly bacteria that has affected several patients at UCLA Medical Center. Two patient deaths and five other infections are believed to be linked to the scopes, and the hospital informed 179 people that they may have been exposed to the infection, which cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago work accidents and wrongful death lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.