International Courant
Dani Marie Schofield, a former nurse at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Heart in Medford, Oregon, was arrested and charged with 44 counts of second-degree assault for stealing fentanyl from sufferers and changing it with non-sterile faucet water in intravenous drips.Schofield was not charged with manslaughter as a result of investigators couldn’t set up that the infections brought on by the faucet water straight brought on the sufferers’ deaths.David deVilleneuve, an Oregon lawyer, stated he has been in contact with about 4 dozen former sufferers who’re exploring whether or not to sue over their therapy by Schofield.
A former nurse at a southern Oregon hospital is dealing with felony prices that she harmed almost 4 dozen sufferers by stealing fentanyl and changing it with non-sterile faucet water in intravenous drips.
Most of the sufferers developed critical infections, and 16 of them died, however authorities stated they didn’t pursue homicide, manslaughter or criminally negligent murder prices as a result of investigators couldn’t set up that the infections brought on these deaths. The sufferers had been already susceptible and being handled within the hospital’s intensive care unit, the Medford Police Division famous.
Dani Marie Schofield, 36, a former nurse at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Heart in Medford, was arrested final week and as an alternative charged with 44 counts of second-degree assault. She pleaded not responsible on Friday and was being held on $4 million bail, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
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“After evaluation of hospital information, affected person information and pathology stories, MPD consulted with a number of medical consultants, who every agreed that questionable deaths related to this case couldn’t be straight attributed to the infections,” the police division stated in a information launch.
The investigation started late final 12 months after hospital officers seen a troubling spike in central line infections from July 2022 by means of July 2023 and informed police they believed an worker had been diverting fentanyl, resulting in “hostile” outcomes for sufferers.
Fentanyl is a strong artificial opioid that has helped gas the nation’s overdose epidemic, however it’s also utilized in authentic medical settings to alleviate extreme ache. Drug theft from hospitals is a longstanding drawback.
The Asante Rogue Regional Medical Heart is seen on Jan. 4, 2024, in Medford, Oregon. (Janet Eastman/The Oregonian through AP, File)
Schofield voluntarily agreed to chorus from practising as a nurse and to droop her nursing license pending the end result of the felony case, Clark R. Horner, Schofield’s civil lawyer, stated in response to a pending civil go well with filed in February in opposition to Schofield and the hospital.
The lawsuit was filed by the property of Horace Wilson, who died on the Asante Rogue Medical Heart. He had sought care on the hospital on Jan. 27, 2022, after falling from a ladder. He suffered bleeding from his spleen and had it eliminated.
However medical doctors then famous “unexplained excessive fevers, very excessive white blood cell counts, and a precipitous decline,” the grievance stated. Assessments confirmed an an infection of treatment-resistant micro organism, Staphylococcus epidermidis. Wilson died weeks later.
In response to the lawsuit, Schofield denied she was negligent or brought on harm to Wilson.
David deVilleneuve, an Oregon lawyer, stated he has been in contact with about 4 dozen former sufferers or their representatives who’re exploring whether or not to sue over their therapy by Schofield. Solely 15 of them appeared on the checklist of victims authorities named within the indictment. He stated he expects to file his first lawsuits inside about three weeks.
DeVilleneuve stated he was shocked that prosecutors didn’t cost Schofield with manslaughter. However he famous that proving she brought on the deaths can be harder in a felony case, the place the usual is past an affordable doubt, than in a civil one, the place it’s a preponderance of the proof.
“Their burden of proof is increased than mine,” he stated.
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Asante final December contacted Medford police concerning a former worker “that they consider was concerned within the theft of fentanyl prescribed to sufferers leading to some hostile affected person outcomes,” the grievance stated.
That month, hospital representatives “started contacting sufferers and their kin telling them a nurse had changed fentanyl with faucet water inflicting bacterial infections,” it stated.
Schofield for every cost faces a compulsory minimal of 5 years and 10 months in jail with a possible most sentence of 10 years.
