A former nurse at a hospital in southern Oregon is facing criminal charges for allegedly harming patients by stealing fentanyl and replacing it with non-sterile tap water in their IV drips.
Many of the patients developed serious infections, and 16 of them died. However, authorities did not pursue murder, manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide charges as they could not establish that the infections directly caused these deaths.
The patients were already vulnerable and being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit, according to the Medford Police Department. Dani Marie Schofield, 36, a former nurse at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, was arrested last week.
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Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center contacted Medford police in December (Google Maps)
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She has been charged with 44 counts of second-degree assault. Schofield pleaded not guilty on Friday and is currently being held on $4 million (£3.14m) bail, as reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
"After review of hospital records, patient records and pathology reports, MPD consulted with multiple medical experts, who each agreed that questionable deaths associated with this case could not be directly attributed to the infections," stated the police department in a news release. The investigation began late last year when hospital officials noticed an alarming increase in central line infections from July 2022 through July 2023.
They informed the police, suspecting that an employee had been diverting fentanyl, leading to "adverse" outcomes for patients. Fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid at the heart of the US overdose epidemic, is also a critical pain management drug in healthcare settings. Drug theft from medical facilities is not uncommon.
Schofield has chosen to cease nursing and suspend her license while she faces criminal charges, her lawyer Clark R Horner confirmed. A legal battle looms as Schofield and the hospital face a lawsuit filed this February by the estate of Horace Wilson, who died at Asante Rogue Medical Center. Wilson was hospitalised after a fall on January 27, 2022, which led to spleen damage and its removal.
Post-operation, Wilson exhibited alarming signs such as "unexplained high fevers, very high white blood cell counts, and a precipitous decline," the lawsuit alleges. Tests later revealed Staphylococcus epidermidis, a bacterium resistant to common drugs. Wilson eventually succumbed to his condition. Schofield refutes any suggestion of negligence or that her conduct resulted in Wilson's death.
David de Villeneuve, an Oregon-based lawyer, reports that almost 50 individuals linked to former patients are contemplating joining a lawsuit against Schofield's practices. Only 15 of them were named in the list of victims by the authorities in the indictment. The first lawsuits are expected to be filed within about three weeks.
Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center alerted Medford police about a former employee "that they believe was involved in the theft of fentanyl prescribed to patients resulting in some adverse patient outcomes" in December, according to the complaint. That same month, hospital representatives "began contacting patients and their relatives telling them a nurse had replaced fentanyl with tap water causing bacterial infections," it stated.
Schofield could face a mandatory minimum of five years and 10 months in prison for each charge, with a potential maximum sentence of 10 years.
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