A new lawsuit against Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center seeks $22.4 million on behalf of two patients who died and a third who was sickened —allegedly due to severe bacterial infections resulting from a nurse’s swap of fentanyl with tap water.
While some of the suit’s allegations are familiar, one is new. It claims that Dani Mari Schofield, the nurse at the center of the allegations of drug theft and patient harm at the Medford hospital, had “abused drugs in her previous employment” and that Asante failed to do an adequate background search before hiring her.
Meanwhile, the hospital on Friday argued that it's Schofield who would be at fault, not the facility. In a different case brought on behalf of 18 patients — a number which has since grown to 20 — lawyers for Asante filed a “third-party complaint” seeking to hold the former nurse liable for any damages to patients.
“The allegations of the [suit] ultimately implicate Ms. Schofield’s conduct,” the filing claims, adding that to the extent that patients were harmed, “Ms. Schofield is responsible for plaintiffs’ damages.”
Filed Thursday, the latest suit represents the fourth filed by former patients or their estates since the fentanyl swapping allegations surfaced a year ago. That’s when Asante Health began informing affected patients or their families that drug thefts had played a role in patient infections, including some that were fatal.
An earlier suit added two patients. The latest suit brings the number of patients or their estates suing either Schofield or Asante to 25.
In June, the Jackson County District Attorney’s office charged Schofield with 44 counts of felony second-degree assault for allegedly stealing the powerful synthetic opioid from patients’ drip bags and replacing it with unsterile tap water. Schofield has denied the accusations and is contesting the charges as well as civil suits naming her.
The new suit is filed on behalf of three people whom the indictment lists as victims of the alleged behavior: Rebecca Rogers, who became seriously ill, and Ronald Sizemore, who later died. A third former patient whose estate is among the plaintiffs, Marty Dean Bolin.
A spokesperson for Asante declined to comment to The Lund Report on the litigation.
The new suit, filed by Medford lawyer Thomas N. Petersen, does not name Schofield as a defendant but faults Asante for her alleged drug diversion, saying it failed to keep tabs on its supply of highly controlled drugs like fentanyl.
“Asante knew or should have known of the high likelihood of drug diversion by its employees, including by Schofield,” the suit states, citing widespread hospital drug diversion nationally.
The suit accused Asante of “allowing a culture that fostered inattention to medication security” even after the hospital became aware in 2016 that “staff had pilfered opioid medications prescribed for patients.”
The suit claimed Asante failed to screen employees using what it described as “routine pre-employment background checks for previous incidents involving opioid misuse.”
Clark Horner, an attorney representing Schofield, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Lund Report.
Schofield remains out on bail while awaiting her criminal trial, which has not been scheduled. Court filings reference a large number of documents in the highly complex case.
