Bronson Pickett faces uphill battle, dialysis, life-threatening complications from hospital stay; former nurse Dani Marie Schofield set for rescheduled pre-trial hearing Wednesday, but there could be further delays

Nearing the two-year anniversary of a rollover crash that left Canyonville resident Bronson Pickett hospitalized with life-threatening injuries — and resulted in him becoming one of 44 victims named in a large-scale criminal drug-diversion case — the 49-year-old said ongoing delays to criminal proceedings for the nurse alleged to have caused him harm is “insult to injury.”

Pickett, first featured in the Rogue Valley Times last summer, faces ongoing serious health struggles including being placed on a kidney transplant list and undergoing dialysis three times a week as a result of his hospital stay two years ago.

In addition to being named in the criminal case against former Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center nurse Dani Marie Schofield, Pickett is one of 21 plaintiffs in nearly a dozen civil suits against Asante and Schofield, who is alleged to have swapped IV pain medication with non-sterile tap water, resulting in dangerous infections for ICU patients, some of whom died.

Pickett, a lifetime outdoorsman prior to his accident and subsequent infection, was working on an old truck with his teen son when a test drive resulted in the rollover crash down a 450-foot ravine. 

Pickett said the infection and resulting medical complications from his hospital stay have altered his family’s life.

A former logger who spent decades building roads, Pickett switched careers in 2017 when he opened B’s Winston Barber Shop. He said this week that working in his shop has become all but impossible, and he’s seeking disability payments while his family relies on his wife’s income and a loan from her 401(k).

In recent months, Pickett, previously hopeful he wouldn’t require full-time dialysis, began making trips to Roseburg for 5 a.m. appointments that run 3 1/2 hours each session. 

Pickett said recent mediation with hospital lawyers were “a huge waste of time,” but he said that he is committed to sharing his story rather than “being quieted.”

“They don’t want to be ethical and do anything unless there’s pressure. They want it to all blow over and us to go away. … We’re not doing that,” Pickett told the Times this week.

“They were acting like they were trying to come to the table. … but in the end they didn’t even want to offer us even a portion of what the medical bills are. … They think we’re desperate enough, if they offer a little, we’ll just take it.”

Criminal case sees continued delays

While the criminal case for Schofield, who has repeatedly declined to return calls to the Times, is set for pre-trial Wednesday, May 28, Pickett anticipates further delays. The case was last scheduled for April, but was delayed for a fifth time.

Schofield left her job at the Medford hospital in July 2023, one month after Pickett was an ICU patient and six months before Medford police confirmed an investigation Dec. 31, 2023, into alleged theft of controlled substances.

Following a more than seven-month investigation, which Jackson County District Attorney Patrick Green noted was the “biggest case” ever handled by his office, Schofield was arrested last June and indicted by the Jackson County Grand Jury on 44 second-degree assault charges under Measure 11. 

Victims named in the case are a mix of former living patients and family members of patients who have since died. Schofield pleaded not guilty following her arrest and is currently free on bail after posting $400,000 of a $4 million set bail.

David deVilleneuve of Shlesinger & deVilleneuve Attorneys P.C. in Medford is representing Pickett and 20 others in the largest of 11 total civil cases, which add up to more than $500 million. Asante is named in all of the cases, and Schofield is named in all but two.

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Bloom issued a stay in recent months in the two cases, filed by Idiart Law in Central Point and Shlesinger & deVilleneueve, preventing evidence gathering in civil suits filed against Schofield, pending the outcome of her criminal case.

DeVilleneuve said ongoing delays are unfair to victims.

“The big thing I really hate about all the delays is that every time they delay the criminal case, it’s another delay for the civil cases,” he told the Times this week.

“I understand why the courts are doing this, but it also feels like the courts right now are kowtowing to the defendant. … it’s like, ‘Let’s protect her rights and let’s make sure her lawyers have enough time.’ It’s like she gets the court’s protection while everyone else sits and gets harmed another day and another day and another day.”

Bronson Pickett focusing on his health and sharing his story

Pickett’s wife, Lucinda, said the emotional stress and loss of freedom for her family — Pickett cannot travel unless he can set up a place to receive dialysis — have been overwhelming on top of watching her husband struggle to have the energy to be present for the couple’s two teenagers.

Pickett’s 14-year-old daughter has called 911 for her dad a handful of times and wrote an essay for school, talking about the impacts to her family, she told the Times. 

The couple, who met in first grade and have been married 27 years, have had a shift from being partners to one of her now serving as caregiver and breadwinner, Lucinda Pickett said.

“It’s hard to think that it’s been two years since he left the hospital … and it’s changed our lives in a lot of ways,” she said.

“He’s gone from somebody who was very independent and loved being outdoors to barely having any energy to get through the day. He has extreme anxiety about medical procedures, which he has a lot of. … Usually in a medical situation, you go in with this trust that they’re going to take care of you,” she said. “He’s had that taken away.”
Delays in the criminal and civil cases, Lucinda Pickett said, feel like an “injustice to those who have been harmed.”

“This nurse is free and living her life and it’s like all the people she affected are the ones in prison,” she said.

Bronson Pickett said he hoped to continue to share his story for the sake of his family and others affected.

“I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. I want them to realize what happened and how many victims she had and I want them to see what they’re trying to get away with,” he said.

“The struggle has already been hard enough and I know it’s gonna get harder before it gets better… but I’m still here and I’m still fighting.”

A GoFundMe is set up online to help with Pickett’s medical and transplant expenses.

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or buffy.pollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.