Hospital officials and police are saying little about a Southern Oregon news report that an employee at a Medford hospital diverted medicine, resulting in the death of at least one person.
The Oregonian/OregonLive has not independently verified the report from KOBI-TV in Medford, which cited unnamed sources about the incident at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center.
Lieutenant Geoff Kirkpatrick of the Medford Police Department would confirm to The Oregonian/OregonLive only that police are investigating an incident, but he would not describe the scope of the investigation or provide any details.
A spokesperson for Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center, Lauren Van Sickle, did not answer questions Sunday from The Oregonian/OregonLive about how many people may have died or when the hospital alerted police. A second spokesperson then called The Oregonian/OregonLive and declined to give her name, providing a single statement she attributed to Asante: "We were distressed to learn of this issue," she said, declining to describe the issue. "We reported it to law enforcement and are working closely with them." There was no further comment.
KOBI-TV reported Friday that police were investigating at least one patient death at Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center. On Saturday, the television station further reported that unnamed sources alleged nine or 10 people had died from infections stemming from the diversion of medicine.
The anonymous sources told the station that an employee they identified as a nurse injected patients with tap water instead of fentanyl, an opioid that's commonly used in medical settings in safe dosages as a powerful painkiller. The sources further alleged the nurse was misusing the fentanyl, and that the tap water caused deadly infections in the patients.
Officials with the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon State Police, Oregon Medical Examiner and the FBI did not return messages seeking comment last weekend.
