The federal Food and Drug Administration took 17 months to tell doctors and the public that contaminated medical scopes had caused at least 250 infections among patients in 10 states.
That conclusion comes from a Senate Committee report that says the devices, called duodenoscopes, were spreading life-threatening “superbug” germs even after the scopes had been cleaned.
A Seattle hospital discovered the infections in 2013, but the FDA didn't send a public warning till early last year.