Fujifilm Healthcare Americas Corp. is facing a lawsuit from a Texas hospital employee who says she suffered severe hearing damage when a company representative’s endoscope demonstration ended in an explosion.
Elizabeth Morell was on staff at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital-Plano on March 23 when Fujifilm employee Jeremy Roper demonstrated an endoscope for an endoscopic ultrasound and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography procedure, according to her petition filed in Dallas County’s 298th District Court. The demonstration used a sterile water bottle connected to a carbon-dioxide insufflator, which delivers a continuous flow of gas to clean the scope’s lens and provide irrigation.
Ms. Morell alleges Mr. Roper clamped the water bottle’s tubing, trapping the pressurized gas until the bottle burst. She was wearing hearing aids at the time, and the amplified sound of the explosion severely damaged her hearing, an injury the lawsuit says could last the rest of her life…