Families claim Oregon nurse replaced fentanyl drips with tap water in $303 million lawsuit

An Oregon hospital is being sued for $303 million in damages by patients of a former employee who is accused of replacing intravenous fentanyl drips with tap water, thus causing bacterial infections and multiple deaths, according to a civil complaint.

The 18 plaintiffs named in the lawsuit obtained by USA TODAY were treated at the Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, Oregon. The hospital is being sued for "negligence" concerning a former nurse "prone to drug misuse," according to the court document filed Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

"This should have never been allowed to happen," Shayla Steyart, an attorney for the patients, told USA TODAY on Wednesday in a statement. "We're hoping the hospital takes this seriously enough to prevent this from ever happening again. We want justice for our clients and their families."

Half of the plaintiffs named in the complaint are labeled "deceased." Asante began informing patients of the nurse's actions in December 2023, the complaint says.

"All Plaintiff Patients suffered pain that they otherwise would not have suffered and for durations of time that they would not have otherwise had to endure," according to the lawsuit.

Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center did not provide a comment regarding the lawsuit when contacted by USA TODAY on Wednesday.

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Dani Marie Schofield charged with 44 counts of second-degree assault

Dani Marie Schofield, a 36-year-old former nurse at Asante, was indicted on June 12 on 44 counts of assault in the second degree, the Jackson County District Attorney's Office announced in a news release. The charges stem from a Medford police investigation into the theft and misuse of controlled substances that led to serious infections in patients a the hospital from July 2022 to July 2023, the DA's office said.

The DA's office began reviewing the results of the investigation into Schofield in early April, according to the release. Authorities interviewed dozens of witnesses and looked through thousands of pages of records, prosecutors said.

"The state is required to prove that the actions of the person charged were the cause of death of thevictim," the DA's office said in the release. "Investigators in this case consulted with multiple medical experts who were unanimous that they could not conclude that any of the patient deaths were directly attributed to the infections."

Schofield pleaded not guilty to the charges during her arraignment on June 14, the Oregonian reported. She is not named in the $303 million lawsuit, but she is facing a different civil lawsuit filed by the estate of 65-year-old Horace E. Wilson, the outlet said.

Oregon nurse sued by estate of deceased 65-year-old patient

Wilson, the founder of a cannabis company called Decibel Farms in Jacksonville, Oregon, died in February 2022 after being treated at Asante, according to the $11. 5 million civil complaint obtained by the Oregonian. The 65-year-old man went to the hospital after he fell off a ladder and suffered bleeding from his spleen, which he subsequently had removed, the court document continued.

Doctors became wary when Wilson developed “unexplained high fevers, very high white blood cell counts, and a precipitous decline,” the complaint said, according to the Oregonian. Tests confirmed and indicated that Wilson was suffering from Staphylococcus epidermidis, a treatment-resistant bacterial infection. He died weeks later after the infection professed to multi-system organ failure, the suit says, according to the Oregonian.

USA TODAY contacted Schofield's defense attorneys on Wednesday but did not receive a response.