A strong Olympus scope infection case is built on a clear medical timeline and the records that prove it. The good news: most of the work is on us, not you. The records we need live in the hospital's files and the FDA's databases, and we know how to request them.
What we ask of patients is what only the patient can give us: a written timeline of what happened, the records you already have at home, and your permission to go after the rest. This page walks through both halves of the picture.
Every endoscopic procedure generates a paper trail, even when it feels routine to the patient. The procedure record is the foundation of a scope infection case because it establishes the basics: when the procedure happened, who performed it, what kind of scope was used, and what the doctor saw.
The records that matter from the day of the procedure include:
Patients almost never have the device identification log at home. That record lives in the hospital's reprocessing or surgical services department, and it is one of the records we request first.
The infection record is the most important set of medical records in a scope case. It is what proves that the patient developed a serious infection and identifies exactly what bacteria were involved. Without these records, even a strong story is hard to turn into a case.
The key documents:
The treatment record establishes how serious the infection was and what was required to recover. It is the basis for what a case is worth, beyond the underlying liability question.
The records explain the medicine. The patient explains the human side. Both matter. What we ask patients to write down at home:
None of this needs to be polished or formatted. A handwritten page is fine. What matters is that the timeline and the impact are written down before memories fade.
Patients often ask whether they need to assemble everything before calling. The answer is no, and the reason is that the most important records are the ones a patient cannot easily get on their own. When we open a case, the firm takes responsibility for the records work that follows.
All of this work is done at the firm's expense, not yours. Under our contingency fee arrangement, you pay nothing unless we recover money for you.
The questions we hear most often from patients trying to figure out what to gather before calling.
Nothing specific. You do not need any records to make the first call. A free case review is just a conversation about what happened. If we accept the case, we will guide you through what to gather and we will handle the formal records requests ourselves under HIPAA's right of access. The first call is the start of the process, not the end of it.
Yes. Most patients we talk to are missing some or most of their records. Hospital records are not designed for patients to organize at home — they are scattered across departments, EHR systems, and outside labs. We send formal records requests on your behalf to every facility that treated you, and we typically end up with a more complete record than the patient could have assembled on their own.
Federal HIPAA regulations give you the right to request your own medical records, and the FDA's Unique Device Identifier rule requires hospitals to log the specific medical devices used in your procedures. Together, those two rules give patients a path to identify the make, model, and sometimes the exact serial number of the scope used. The blog post on how to ask which scope was used walks through the exact letter to send and what HIPAA requires the hospital to give you.
No. The opposite, in fact. Calling first lets us tell you which records will actually help and avoid spending days chasing paperwork that will not move the case forward. The timeline you can write in 20 minutes — dates, hospitals, infections, treatment — is enough to know whether you have a case worth pursuing.
They have to. Federal HIPAA law requires hospitals and other health care providers to give a patient their own records on request, generally within 30 days. They can charge a reasonable copy fee but they cannot refuse a properly submitted request. If a hospital pushes back, that is when an attorney's letter usually clears the path.
Every factual claim on this page is supported by a verifiable public source. Click any source below to read the original.
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Timeline of FDA recalls, warnings, and import alerts.
CRE, MDRO, sepsis warning signs to watch for.
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When routine screenings cause hospital-acquired infections.
Cleaning shortcuts that put patients at risk.
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Did Olympus meet its FDA deadline? 96% completion claim, Canadian class action, and what's still outstanding.
Where Olympus scope cases stand: no MDL yet, individual filings, deadline pressure.
The drug-resistant bacteria documented in scope outbreaks, in plain English.
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Plain-English read on filing deadlines and the discovery rule.
Olympus bronchoscope cases — pneumonia, sepsis, who qualifies.
Was your hospital part of an Olympus scope outbreak?
Why scope cases are usually product liability, not malpractice.
No fees unless we recover money for you — how it works.
If you developed a serious infection after an endoscopic procedure, you do not need to assemble a case file before you call. Tell us what happened. We will handle the rest. No Fees Unless We Recover Money for You.
