ICU nurse replaced her patients' liquid fentanyl with tap water

Lina Portman3 weeks ago

0 2 minutes read

Dani Mari Schofield in court on June 14, 2024. (KOMO screenshot) and Asante Rogue Regional Hospital (Google Maps)

A 36-year-old former nurse from Oregon is facing a string of crimes for allegedly stealing liquid fentanyl prescribed to patients and replacing the drug with unsterile tap water. Dani Mari Schofield was arrested Thursday and charged with 44 counts of second-degree assault in connection with the “drug diversion” scheme, authorities said.

According to a news release from the Medford, Oregon, Police Department, the arrest took place around 12:30 p.m. in the 5000 block of Rogue River Drive, about 260 miles south of Portland.

The seven-month investigation into Schofield began in early December 2023, when officials from Asante Rogue Regional Hospital contacted police and expressed concern about the “increasing number of central line infection cases” they saw among the patients they cared for. The hospital conducted an internal investigation with the assistance of external medical experts and determined that all cases of infection were isolated to patients in the intensive care unit and that they all occurred within a range specific dates. This report was given to the police.

Due to the size of the case, the department said it has dedicated several detectives full-time. Investigators said they spent months “going through volumes of hospital records” and interviewed more than 100 people, including doctors, nurses, patients and numerous victims.

“Based on records and interviews, investigators were able to determine that ICU Nurse Schofield had access to each of these victims,” police said in the release. “There was concern that Schofield was diverting liquid fentanyl from patients for his own use and then replacing it with tap water, causing serious infections. Schofield left Asante in July 2023.”

Following the investigation, detectives presented their findings to the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office for review. On June 12, prosecutors convened a grand jury that issued an actual bill charging Schofield with the aforementioned assault charges.

Police explained the reasoning behind the second-degree assault charge against Schofield.

“The multiple 2nd degree assault charges resulted from evidence indicating that Schofield’s actions resulted in injury to the affected patients,” the release states. “A person commits 2nd degree assault if he or she intentionally or knowingly causes serious physical injury to another. The 44 charges reflect the total number of patients this investigation found were affected by Schofield's criminal actions.

Shayla Steyart, an attorney representing 15 of the victims, told ABC affiliate KOMO in Seattle, Washington, that her clients will sue the hospital, alleging the entity was negligent in allowing the alleged scheme to drug diversion to take place for so long.

“The fact that it was tap water made it so egregious,” Steyart told the station. “The prosecutor says he's looking at these cases over a period of a year, and if he's identified 44 people to whom this happened, I have a hard time understanding how this wasn't discovered sooner. “

At least one of Schofield's alleged patients died as a result of the alleged tap water swap, according to a lawsuit filed by the estate of Horace Wilson. Wilson was admitted to Asante's intensive care unit after falling from a ladder in January 2022 and suffering a lacerated spleen and broken ribs, NBC News reported. The suit allegedly claims that Schofield replaced Wilson's painkillers with tap water, leading to a bacterial blood infection that ultimately proved fatal.

Schofield is being held in the Jackson County Jail on $5 million bail.