New Civil Case Against Asante: Medford Medical Center is Now Facing $488 Million in Damages

New Lawsuit Against Asante Brings Total to $488 Million

In the latest complaint, filed on November 14, three alleged victims, Marty Bolin, Ronald Sizemore, and Rebecca Rogers, are seeking $22.45 million in damages.

Bolin and Sizemore died due to the infection caused by the drug swapping and the filings indicate the claims are $13,325,000 for the Bolin estate, $6,325,000 for Sizemore’s estate, and $2,800,000 for Rogers.

Twenty-three parties are now suing Asante in civil court, and the biggest complaint is by 18 plaintiffs claiming $337,785,00 in damages.

The new lawsuit lists Asante as a defendant but not Schofield. It reflects that RRMC notified possible drug-diversion-affected patients last December and January about their risks and claims but failed to notify them or their surviving family members of its own conduct and their failures to act to prevent the harm caused.

The Plaintiffs allege that Asante should have known the high likelihood of drug diversion and protected patients from its effects better, as there had been previous such incidents between 2016 and 2017, and had a duty to use a degree of care, skill, and diligence.

Twenty-two points of negligence are listed in the filing, including that Asante had complete and exclusive control of Plaintiffs’ medical care and medication dispension through its employees but hired Schofield negligently as a diligent pre-hiring background search, would have revealed that she abused drugs in her previous employment.

Asante Drug Diversion Lawsuits

Even though the claims against Asante are close to half a billion dollars, they aren’t at risk of bankruptcy, according to a professor of accounting at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Dr. Ge Bai, who is also an expert in health care finance, said Asante isn’t at the brink of insolvency, although the claims will their risk.

Police indicated that the fentanyl diversion killed 16 people, but Bai noted that RRMC’s revenue last year was $1 billion. While the potential payout of $488 million is large, Asante has a relatively low level of debt and should be able to sustain its operations. While claims of this size are rare, hospitals face malpractice suits regularly.

A criminal case was filed by the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office (JCDA) in which Schofield is facing 44 counts of felony assault under Oregon Measure 11, which included the 44 people identified by the Medford Police Department’s investigation, 16 of which died.

For each charge of assault, which spans July 2022 to July 2023, Schofield faces a minimum sentence of 70 months for each charge. Her next appearance is scheduled at a pre-trial conference on December 30.