Horace Wilson, inset, died at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford on Feb. 25, 2022. (Victim’s photo from lawyers; Exterior photo of the hospital from KOBI-TV/YouTube)
A nurse at an Oregon hospital diverted fentanyl from a patient’s intravenous drip and replaced it with tap water, causing a bacterial infection that killed a 65-year-old patient, a wrongful-death lawsuit alleges.
Horace Wilson died at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford on Feb. 25, 2022, nearly a month after being taken there after breaking his ribs and spleen in a fall from a ladder, according to the lawsuit filed on Monday by a representative from Wilson’s estate that seeks $11.5 million. The lawsuit names Asante and the former nurse Dani Marie Schofield, who has not been charged with a crime.
In an interview with The Lund Report, Schofield denied wrongdoing, saying, “The truth will, I’m sure, come out.”
Police have confirmed they were aware of the lawsuit and have opened an investigation involving interviews with “hundreds of people.”
“We are meticulously reviewing thousands of documents, including medical records, which require thorough examination and consultation with experts in the medical field,” reads a statement from the Medford Police Department, published in the Lund Report.
Wilson was hospitalized on Jan. 27, 2022. He had a splenectomy, and hospital staff gave him potent medications to maintain safe blood pressure, court documents said.
But on Feb. 3, Wilson’s clinical course took a turn for the worse. He required three operations to treat a “breakdown of his surgical repair,” showed signs of an infection and persistent hypotension, a hallmark of a state of sepsis, court documents said. Tests on Feb. 8, 2022, confirmed he had a bacterial infection.
Schofield, a registered nurse, administered Wilson fentanyl through a drip line, court documents said.
The court documents say that she diverted the fentanyl, replacing a quarter of a liter of “missing fluid” with non-sterile tap water, reintroducing “new inoculums of the bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis into Horace Wilson’s bloodstream” via his central line each time she administered the solution.
By Feb. 12, clinicians noted unexplained high fevers, high white blood cell counts, and a “precipitous decline.” He progressed to “multi-system organ failure” and developed worsening “sepsis-induced brain dysfunction.” He had severe confusion and was put on a ventilator, the lawsuit alleges.
At one point, Wilson recovered enough to communicate to ICU staff that he “no longer wished to live this way.” He died on Feb. 25.
On April 14, 2023, the hospital acknowledged bloodstream infections had been linked to bacteria but reported no water contamination at their facilities.
On Nov. 22, Schofield and the Oregon Board of Nursing agreed to refrain from practicing or suspend the license pending the completion of an investigation, court documents said.
In early December 2023, officials from Asante contacted the Medford police about a former employee who they believed was involved in the theft of fentanyl prescribed to patients, resulting in some “adverse patient outcomes.”
That same month, Asante contacted patients and their relatives, telling them a nurse had replaced fentanyl with tap water, causing bacterial infections.
“Defendant Asante knew or should have known of the high likelihood of opioid diversion by one of its employees for their own use given the prevalence of such acts throughout the United States, especially after Asante discovered diversion of controlled substances by one of its nurses from about August 2016 through July 2017,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges negligence and seeks damages for medical expenses and attorney fees.
An Asante spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
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