US Nurse Under Probe for Allegedly 'Replacing Fentanyl IV Bags with Tap Water'

US authorities are probing the theft of medication prescribed to patients at a hospital in the state of Oregon, officials confirmed this week, following a report that two people died and others were sickened after a nurse replaced fentanyl intravenous drips with tap water.

In a statement, Medford Police Lt. Geoff Kirkpatrick said that officials at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford reported to police early last month that they believed a former employee had stolen medication. “There was concern that this behavior resulted in adverse patient care, though the extent of the impact on those patients is yet to be determined,” the statement said.

In a phone interview with AP, Kirkpatrick declined to confirm whether deaths resulted from the medication theft or tampering, saying, “We’re investigating whether or not that behavior led to adverse patient care, which could be death, could be all sorts of other forms or things. … We don’t know that that resulted in deaths.”

The police said the department received numerous calls from individuals asking if they or a family member might have been affected. Asante told police it had identified any patients who were and has notified or is notifying them or their families. Neither the hospital nor police would provide further information, and there were no indications an arrest had been made. “We were distressed to learn of this issue,” Asante said in a statement. “We reported it to law enforcement and are working closely with them.”

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Oregon Health Authority said that it was aware of reports of an Asante nurse “alleged to have tampered with pharmaceutical fentanyl used to treat severe pain and introduced tap water in patients’ intravenous lines.” It also confirmed it was investigating “reports that the incidents led to health care-associated infections that severely injured, and may have caused the deaths of, several patients.”

Earlier this week, The Rogue Valley Times reported that the families of two patients — 36-year-old Samuel Allison, who died in November 2022, and 74-year-old Barry Samsten, who died in July — said hospital officials notified them that the deaths were due to infections resulting from their pain medication being replaced with non-sterile tap water.

(With agency inputs)