Los Angeles congressman is calling for Japanese prosecutors to investigate Olympus Corp. for not warning American hospitals that its medical scope was transferring lethal bacteria to patients.
In an Aug. 29 letter, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) asked Secretary of State John Kerry to request that Japanese authorities probe the Tokyo-based manufacturer for civil or criminal misconduct.
Lieu cited stories by The Times that have detailed that Olympus was told by experts in 2012 that the design of a device called a duodenoscope was flawed. The company warned European hospitals about the possibility of patient infections, but not those in the U.S.
