Number of patients harmed or killed could be ‘substantially higher’ than police and public led to believe, attorney says

By Buffy Pollock, Rogue Valley Times

Two local law firms have confirmed that more former patients of Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center have learned they are potential victims in an ongoing drug-diversion investigation at the Medford hospital.

Asante, the firms said, made a new round of phone calls to former patients — and to families of patients who died — believed to have contracted blood infections after a hospital nurse allegedly swapped prescription fentanyl for non-sterile tap water.

Law enforcement and Asante officials have provided few details about the investigation, first reported to police in early December. Local law firms previously estimated they were working with at least three dozen former patients or patient families who believed they or their loved ones were affected by the alleged drug diversion.

This week, Medford attorney David deVilleneuve, of Shlesinger & deVilleneuve Attorneys P.C. in Medford, said he was contacted by an additional 12 to 15 former patients or patient families last week, and by another five on Monday. At least four of the individuals said were contacted by Asante.

In early February, deVilleneuve’s firm was reviewing the medical records of two dozen potential clients. A month later, that number has increased to between 65 and 70 potential cases and includes individuals who developed infections and survived, as well as family members of patients who developed infections and didn’t survive. At least a dozen involve individuals contacted by Asante, either last week or in November and December.

DeVilleneuve said he has been retained by clients who had reached out to Asante with suspicions but were initially told they or their loved ones were not victims.

“The new round of calls leads me to believe that Asante has since uncovered more victims and is now calling them,” he said. “This is very concerning because there are people that were told back in December and January that they were not victims but, in fact, now they may have been.

“I think the scope of people victimized is substantially higher than what MPD and the public were originally led to believe.”

DeVilleneuve said two clients reported being contacted by Medford police — the department said it could not confirm this — while another told his legal team they were contacted by the FBI. A spokesperson for the FBI said Monday that the agency had “no updates at this time.”

While hospital officials have been tight-lipped since the investigation began — and did not immediately return a call on Monday afternoon — data obtained by the Rogue Valley Times showed a spike in central line infections in 2022 and 2023. Infection rates climbed to 15 and 14 across those two years, compared to one or two reported in previous years.

Families interviewed by the Times, who were contacted by Asante in November and December, show a preliminary timeline of deaths occurring between November 2022 and July 2023. Both deVilleneuve and attorneys for Idiart Law Group said they are reviewing cases that indicate the deaths began even earlier.

While police have not named a suspect, a civil suit filed Feb. 26 by Idiart Law Group in Central Point identifies 35-year-old Medford registered nurse (RN) Dani Marie Schofield as a co-defendant with Asante.

The lawsuit — the first one related to the drug-diversion allegations — seeks $11.5 million on behalf of the estate of 65-year-old Horace “Buddy” Wilson, who fell from a ladder Jan. 27, 2022, and was admitted to the hospital with a lacerated spleen and broken ribs. In the following weeks, Wilson developed persistent, treatment-resistant sepsis and eventually experienced multi-system organ failure.

Wilson died Feb. 25, 2022, the suit alleges, after Schofield repeatedly replaced the fentanyl in his IV with tap water. According to court documents, Wilson was “weaned from sedation and recovered enough mental function to communicate to the ICU staff that he no longer wished to live this way.”

Attorney Justin Idiart said Tuesday that his firm has 11 cases for which retainers have been signed and another 17 are under evaluation.

Idiart said Schofield is mentioned in a number of these cases and turns up repeatedly in his clients’ medical records. No arrests have been made, and police and hospital officials have declined to comment on Schofield, who left the hospital in July.

Schofield, who is represented by Medford criminal defense attorney Shawn Kollie, has not responded to multiple requests for comment. In an interview with The Lund Report on Jan. 5, Schofield denied wrongdoing, saying, “The truth will, I’m sure, come out.”

DeVilleneuve said he feels Medford police and hospital officials could have provided better instructions for former patients, or patient families, who think they might have been impacted by the drug diversion. He said he planned to file clients’ claims individually instead of as a class-action lawsuit.

“I believe there are people that were, in fact, victims that have no idea that this even happened,” he said.

While some of his clients were not told by Asante that they are victims, their medical charts resemble those of patients contacted by the health system, deVilleneuve said. One example involves a patient who had bone spurs removed from their feet. The patient was given fentanyl and later contracted three different types of blood infections and died.

DeVilleneuve said Asante’s latest outreach to new potential victims affirms his decision not to exclude individuals the health system has not yet identified.

“When we were analyzing these calls as they were first coming in, we thought, ‘If Asante is calling them, that indicates that something may be more serious,’” he added.

“But I’m glad we didn’t limit our cases, because now we’ve had this second round of phone calls.”

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.