John Jefferson
Inset: Dani Mari Schofield appeared in court on June 14 (KOMO screenshot); Background: Asante Rogue Regional Hospital (Google Maps)
An Oregon medical center is facing a $300 million lawsuit over the alleged actions of a nurse accused of swapping out liquid fentanyl for nonsterile tap water, resulting in the deaths of multiple patients.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Dani Marie Schofield was arrested in June and charged with 44 counts of assault for allegedly stealing liquid fentanyl prescribed to patients and replacing the drug with tap water. Between July 2022 and July 2023, when Schofield left the medical center, dozens of patients were allegedly affected with serious infections, including several deaths, Medford police said at the time.
The wrongful death and negligence complaint, reviewed by Law&Crime, seeks $303 million in damages. Attorneys for the plaintiffs represent the interests of at least 18 former patients — nine patients who survived Schofield’s alleged mistreatment, and the families of nine who did not.
“All Plaintiff Patients were infected with bacterium uniquely associated with waterborne transmission,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit alleges that the hospital failed to prepare for the possibility of employee theft of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid believed to be a leading cause of drug overdose deaths, according to the CDC.
“Defendant Asante knew or should have known of the high likelihood of drug misuse by its employees given the prevalence of such acts throughout the United States,” the complaint says, adding that the hospital has also had “repeated instances of drug misuse by its employees in the past.”
As a result of Schofield’s actions, the complaint says, the patients “suffered pain that they otherwise would not have suffered and for durations of time that they would not have otherwise had to endure.”
Schofield is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“We will get justice for these people and we will make sure this never happens again,” attorney David deVilleneuve, who represents the plaintiffs, said in a statement emailed to Law&Crime.
The seven-month investigation into Schofield began in early December 2023, when officials with Asante Rogue Regional Hospital contacted police and reported being concerned with the “rising number of central line infection cases” they were seeing among patients in their care. The hospital conducted an internal investigation with the help of outside medical experts and determined that all of the infection cases were isolated to patients in the Intensive Care Unit, and they all happened within a specific date range. That report was provided to the police.
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Investigators said they spent months “pouring through volumes of hospital records” and interviewed more than 100 individuals, including doctors, nurses, patients, and many of the victims.
“Based on records and interviews, investigators were able to determine that ICU nurse Schofield had access to each of these victims,” police said in a press release at the time. “There was concern that Schofield had been diverting patients’ liquid fentanyl for her personal use and then replacing it with tap water, causing serious infections. Schofield left Asante in July 2023.”
Although Schofield isn’t named in this lawsuit, she was named in a lawsuit filed in February by the estate of Horace Wilson. Wilson was admitted into the Asante ICU after falling from a ladder in January 2022 and suffering a lacerated spleen and broken ribs, NBC News reported. The suit reportedly claims that Schofield switched Wilson’s pain medication with tap water, resulting in a bacterial blood infection that ultimately proved fatal.
A pretrial hearing in the criminal case is set for December, online records show. Schofield posted $4 million bail in July, according to local news reports.
Court records do not indicate a future hearing date in the lawsuit. Representatives for the medical center did not immediately return Law&Crime’s request for comment.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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