MEDFORD, Ore. – A former intensive care unit nurse at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center is facing 44 second-degree felony counts for replacing liquid fentanyl with tap water in patients’ intravenous drips so that she could use the fentanyl herself. The medical center is also being sued for $303 million for wrongful death and medical malpractice.
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The grand jury indictment says the 36-year-old Dani Marie Schofield’s replacement of the fentanyl with non-sterile water caused bacterial infections in nearly four dozen patients, reports KDRV. Sixteen of them died, reports the Associated Press.
The 44 incidents happened between July 2022 and July 2023.
In mid-June she pleaded not guilty and was released on $4 million bail. She agreed to not practice nursing and to suspend her license until the criminal case has concluded. If found guilty, Schofield could be sentenced to ten years in prison.
Hospital Notified Police of Suspected Fentanyl Theft by Nurse
Asante notified Medford Police in December that they suspected the fentanyl was being diverted after noticing a rising number of central line infections in patients at the medical center, reports CBS News. Asante’s internal probe discovered Schofield had access to all of the ICU patients who developed infections. She was arrested after a seven-month investigation.
Asante is being sued for $303 million by nine patients who survived their infections allegedly caused by Schofield’s diversion of the fentanyl. The estates of nine other patients who died as a result of their infections are also included in the lawsuit, reports NBC News. The complaint says all of the plaintiff patients “were infected with bacterium uniquely associated with waterborne transmission.”
The wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit claims Asante was negligent, failed to track the administration of medication, and failed to prevent drug diversion by its employees, reports CBS News.
This lawsuit follows an earlier complaint filed in February by the estate of a 65-year-old patient who died.
