A nurse was accused of replacing patients’ fentanyl with water. Now an Oregon hospital faces a $303 million lawsuit

Eighteen patients — nine who survived and the families of nine who died — are at the center of a $303 million lawsuit against an Oregon hospital where a nurse was accused of replacing fentanyl with bacteria-laden water in intravenous drips.

Former nurse Dani Marie Schofield, 36, who worked at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, was arrested in June and charged with 44 counts of second-degree assault. The charges stemmed from a police investigation into the theft and misuse of controlled substances that resulted in patient infections. She pleaded not guilty.

Schofield left her post a month after she was initially charged, telling The Lund Report : “The Truth will, I’m sure, come out.”

The multimillion-dollar wrongful death suit and medical malpractice complaint accuses the hosptial of negligence, claiming they failed to follow safety procedures that would have prevented the nurse from stealing the drugs. Schofield isn’t named or listed as a defendent.

A separate suit seeking $11.5 million was filed against Schofield and the hospital earlier this year on behalf of the estate of Horace Wilson, a 65-year-old man who died, after going into multi-organ failure from sepsis, accroding to the Daily Mail . Mr Wilson went into hospital to have his spleen removed after an accident, but took a turn for the worse after his bloodstream became infencted with the bacteria staphylococcus epidermidis, caused by water in his IV, according to the lawsuit.

A spokesperson said the hospital had no comment.

According to the $303 million suit, the hospital began informing claimaints in December that an employee had replaced fentanyl with tap water, causing bacterial infections.

“All Plaintiff Patients were infected with bacterium uniquely associated with waterborne transmission,” the complaint says.

The plaintiffs all experienced mental anguish, according to the suit, which seeks millions of dollars in damages for medical expenses, lost income and the pain and suffering of those who died.

Medford police began investigating the hospital late last year, after hospital officials noticed a troubling spike in central line infections from July 2022 through July 2023 and told police they believed an employee had been diverting fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that has helped fuel the nation’s overdose epidemic, but it is also used in legitimate medical settings to relieve severe pain. Drug theft from hospitals is a longstanding problem.