- Dani Marie Schofield, a former nurse at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, Ore., was arrested for stealing fentanyl from patients and substituting unsterile tap water for intravenous drips. Charged with 44 counts of second-degree assault.
- Schofield was not charged with manslaughter because investigators could not determine that an infection caused by the tap water directly caused the patient’s death.
- Oregon attorney David de Villeneuve said he has been contacted by about four dozen former patients who are considering whether to sue over Schofield’s treatment.
A former nurse at a southern Oregon hospital is facing criminal charges for stealing fentanyl and injuring nearly four dozen patients with intravenous drips using unsterile tap water.
Many patients developed severe infections and 16 died, but authorities said they would not pursue murder, manslaughter or manslaughter charges because investigators could not determine whether the deaths were caused by infections. The Medford Police Department noted that these patients are already vulnerable and are being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Dani Marie Schofield, 36, a former nurse at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, was arrested last week and charged with 44 One count of second-degree assault. She pleaded not guilty on Friday and was released on $4 million bail, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
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“After reviewing hospital records, patient records and pathology reports, MPD consulted with multiple medical experts who all agreed that the suspicious deaths associated with this case cannot be directly attributed to infection,” the police department said in a news release.
The investigation began late last year after hospital officials noticed a disturbing spike in central venous catheter infections between July 2022 and July 2023 and told police they believed an employee had been diverting fentanyl, Leading to “bad” outcomes for patients.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that has fueled the country’s overdose epidemic, but it is also used in legitimate medical settings to relieve severe pain. Hospital drug theft is a long-standing problem.
January 4, 2024, Asante Logue Regional Medical Center, Medford, Oregon. (Janet Eastman/The Oregonian via AP, File)
Schofield’s civil attorney, Clark R. Horner, said in response to a pending civil lawsuit filed in February against Schofield and the hospital that Schofield voluntarily agreed to no longer practice nursing and His nursing license was revoked pending the outcome of the criminal case.
The lawsuit was filed by the estate of Horace Wilson, who died at Asante Rogue Medical Center. On January 27, 2022, he went to the hospital for medical treatment after falling from a ladder. His spleen bled and was removed.
But doctors later noticed “an unexplained high fever and a very high white blood cell count that dropped dramatically,” the complaint said. Tests confirmed infection with the drug-resistant bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis. Wilson died a few weeks later.
In response to the lawsuit, Schofield denied she was negligent or caused harm to Wilson.
Oregon attorney David de Villeneuve said he has been contacted by about four dozen former patients or their representatives who are considering whether to sue Schofield over their treatment. Only 15 of them appear on the list of victims named in the authorities’ indictments. He said he expects the first lawsuit to be filed in about three weeks.
De Villeneuve said he was surprised prosecutors did not charge Schofield with manslaughter. But he noted that proving she caused the death would be more difficult in a criminal case than in a civil case, where the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt, while civil cases require a substantial amount of evidence.
“Their burden of proof is higher than mine,” he said.
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In December, Asante contacted Medford police about a former employee “who they believed was involved in the theft of fentanyl prescribed to patients, resulting in adverse outcomes for the patients,” according to the complaint.
That month, hospital representatives “began contacting patients and relatives to inform them that a nurse had substituted tap water for fentanyl, resulting in a bacterial infection,” the statement said.
Schofield faces a minimum of five years and 10 months in prison on each charge, with a possible maximum sentence of 10 years.
