Asante Nurse Lawsuit: Fentanyl Case, Settlements, Federal Findings

The Asante nurse lawsuit refers to a cluster of civil cases and a criminal prosecution arising from allegations that former ICU nurse Dani Marie Schofield diverted liquid fentanyl from IV bags at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford, Oregon, and replaced it with non-sterile tap water, causing bloodstream infections in 44 patients, 16 of whom died. Schofield faces 44 second-degree assault charges and is scheduled for an eight-week jury trial beginning September 14, 2026.¹²³

What Schofield Is Accused Of

Prosecutors allege that between roughly July 2022 and July 2023, Schofield emptied liquid fentanyl from IV bags meant for critically ill ICU patients and topped them off with tap water.⁴ Patients received no pain relief, and unsterilized water flowed into their bloodstreams through central IV lines, causing serious bacterial infections.⁵

Sixteen of the 44 patients named in the indictment died. Authorities have not charged Schofield with those deaths, citing insufficient evidence to directly link the fatalities to the infections she allegedly caused.⁴ One of those deaths, Horace Wilson’s, was traced to a Staphylococcus epidermidis bloodstream infection in February 2022, according to a wrongful death suit filed by his estate. That date is roughly five months before the start of the period charged in the indictment.⁶

How the Hospital Missed It

A 303-page federal investigation by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, based on three unannounced inspections starting in January 2024, described a chain of missed warnings at Asante.⁷ Coworkers reportedly flagged concerns about Schofield as early as May 2022, describing her emptying opioid syringes into waste bins, pouring saline in after, and once swaying in the room of an intubated patient in obvious distress.⁸

When a manager referred Schofield for a fitness-for-duty exam and drug test in December 2022, the hospital failed to document the process, and the drug test did not screen for fentanyl. She received a positive performance review for that same year.⁸ Asante also aggregated drug diversion surveillance data across three facilities rather than tracking it hospital by hospital, which masked the pattern at Rogue Regional.⁷

The hospital did not report the ICU central-line infection outbreak to public health authorities until April 2023, and management did not tie the infections to possible drug diversion until November 2023, seven months after the Oregon Health Authority first raised the possibility. Schofield was fired on July 26, 2023, after she refused a drug screen. She voluntarily suspended her nursing license that November, and it expired in April 2024.⁸ The Oregon State Board of Nursing has placed its own investigation on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case.⁷

The Civil Suits and Settlements

Patients and families of the dead have filed a wave of suits against both Schofield and Asante. By November 2024, 23 separate complaints had been filed, together seeking more than $488 million.³ The claims include wrongful death, medical malpractice, and negligence, alleging that Asante failed to monitor medication procedures, prevent drug diversion, and protect patients from unsafe tap water.⁹

The Wilson estate’s $11.5 million wrongful death suit, filed in February 2024, was the first.¹⁰ A $303 million suit followed in September 2024 on behalf of 18 plaintiffs, nine of them estates of deceased patients.¹¹ A $22.4 million complaint filed in November 2024 alleged that Schofield had a documented drug abuse history at a previous employer and that Asante had failed to conduct adequate pre-employment background checks. In one case involving 20 plaintiffs, Asante filed a third-party complaint trying to shift liability entirely onto Schofield.¹²

In September 2024, Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge Benjamin Bloom stayed discovery across the civil cases, ruling that forcing Schofield to testify before her criminal trial could jeopardize her Fifth Amendment rights. Plaintiff attorneys objected, noting that some of their cases did not name Schofield at all, but Judge Bloom denied those challenges and also denied two motions asking him to recuse himself over prior legal work for Asante.¹³

Despite the stay, most of the cases have quietly settled. Attorney David deVilleneuve of Shlesinger & deVilleneuve confirmed his firm settled all but two of its 21 cases, and attorney Justin Idiart, who represented 11 clients with another 17 under evaluation, said most of his had also settled. Settlement terms are subject to non-disclosure agreements. According to reporting by the Rogue Valley Times, two factors pushed plaintiffs toward settlement: the psychological toll of the delay, and Oregon’s $500,000 statutory cap on wrongful death damages, which limited what a trial could yield.² A handful of cases remain pending.

Asante has publicly acknowledged setting aside money for payouts. In March 2024, CFO Heather Rowenhorst described “creating some pool of funds” and “strategically moving funds around and reducing our risk,” noting that Asante is self-insured with malpractice coverage and three excess carrier layers.¹⁴ A healthcare finance expert quoted by OPB said the potential $488 million exposure was significant but did not threaten the system’s solvency, given more than $1 billion in annual revenue and relatively low debt.³

The Criminal Case

After a seven-month investigation prompted by Asante’s December 2023 report to police, the Jackson County District Attorney’s office charged Schofield in June 2024 with 44 counts of second-degree assault, one per patient named in the indictment.⁴ Under Oregon’s Measure 11, each count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and ten months.¹⁵

Schofield pleaded not guilty. She posted $400,000 toward $4 million bail and has remained free with pretrial monitoring. The case, before Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jeremy Markiewicz, has been delayed roughly half a dozen times because of the volume of discovery and a parallel DEA investigation that has since wrapped up.¹⁶ At a May 2026 hearing, Judge Markiewicz warned that no further delays would be granted after a July 20, 2026, check-in absent extraordinary circumstances.¹⁵ The eight-week trial is set to begin September 14, 2026, with a jury pool of more than 200 expected.¹

Schofield is also the subject of a separate CMS investigation that surfaced during a November 2025 court hearing. Prosecutors are working to obtain those records for the criminal trial.¹⁷

Federal Findings Against the Hospital

CMS cited Asante for failing to detect, investigate, or control the ICU bloodstream infection surge, failing to report the outbreak on time, and running inconsistent, ineffective drug diversion surveillance. Federal investigators concluded the hospital had “limited capacity” to provide “safe and adequate care.” After a follow-up inspection in April 2025, federal officials found Asante had corrected the deficiencies and returned to “substantial compliance” with Medicare and Medicaid conditions of participation. No actual loss of federal funding was reported.⁷

Other Active Lawsuits Against Asante

Two other pending lawsuits against Asante are unrelated to the drug diversion allegations but sometimes get conflated with them.

Wage Theft Class Action

On March 18, 2026, nurse Juniper Arthurs, a bargaining unit leader for the Oregon Nurses Association at Asante Rogue Regional, filed a class action in Jackson County Circuit Court alleging systemic wage theft.¹⁸ The suit claims Asante used timekeeping software to round hours down, made unauthorized deductions, refused to pay earned shift differentials and premium pay, and failed to pay for missed meal and rest breaks. It seeks to represent about 6,000 hourly workers going back to 2020 and asks for $500,000 in unpaid wages plus $2 million in statutory penalties and damages.¹⁹ An Asante spokesperson said the organization does not comment on active litigation.²⁰ The class has not been certified as of mid-2026.²¹

Retaliation and Discrimination Suit

In December 2025, Keith Coddington, a 22-year ICU nurse and union shop steward, filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Medford. He alleges Asante failed to protect him from COVID-19, failed to accommodate his long-COVID symptoms, and then retaliated against him for filing safety, staffing, and labor complaints. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries found “substantial evidence” of retaliation in October 2025, concluding that a formal warning Asante issued Coddington violated two Oregon statutes. Asante fired him in June 2025, citing HIPAA violations that the suit calls pretextual.²²

1
KOBI 5. Former Asante Nurse Dani Marie Schofield Appears in Court for Status Check
2
Rogue Valley Times. Asante Settles Majority of Civil Suits Tied to Alleged Drug Diversion by RN
3
OPB. Asante Drug Diversion Lawsuits, Medford
4
IJPR. Medford Nurse Arrested in Drug Diversion Case at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center
5
NBC News. Former ICU Nurse Arrested on Suspicion of Replacing Fentanyl With Tap Water
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NBC News. Nurse Swapped Water for Fentanyl, Killing Patient, Lawsuit Alleges
7
IJPR. Before Asante Deaths and Drug Diversion Went Public, a Year of Missed Warnings
8
The Lund Report. Asante Deaths and Drug Diversion Went Public: A Year of Missed Warnings
9
Rogue Valley Times. Asante Rogue Regional Faces $303 Million Lawsuit After Nurse Allegedly Diverted Drugs
10
Rogue Valley Times. Medford RN Named With Asante in Wrongful Death Suit Alleging Diversion of Fentanyl
11
MedPage Today. Hospital Faces Serious Patient Lawsuits Stemming From Drug Diversion
12
The Lund Report. New $22M Fentanyl Swap Lawsuit Against Asante Claims Nurse Had Drug Problem at Hiring
13
KDRV. Judge Stays $348M Drug Diversion Case Against Asante, Denies Motions to Recuse Himself
14
Rogue Valley Times. Asante Official Says Money Set Aside Amid Drug Diversion Investigation, Lawsuit
15
Your Oregon News. Judge in Asante Drug Diversion Case Says No Further Delays After July
16
Bend Bulletin. Criminal Trial for Former Asante Nurse Tentatively Set to Begin in September 2026
17
Rogue Valley Times. Former Asante Nurse Accused of Drug Diversion Is Subject of Additional Investigation
18
Rogue Valley Times. Nurses Accuse Asante of Manipulating Paychecks, Stealing Wages
19
IJPR. Lawsuit Accuses Asante of Underpaying Thousands of Workers in Oregon
20
KDRV. Oregon Nurses Association Targets Asante Over Alleged Wage Theft Practices
21
Oregon Nurses Association. Asante Wage Theft Lawsuit
22
The Lund Report. Former Asante Nurse Sues Health Care System Alleging Discrimination and Retaliation