Oregon Memory Care Center and State Authority Sued for Millions Following Resident’s Death

A memory care resident in Oregon wandered out into the cold on Christmas Eve and was found dead the next day. The state body that oversees long-term care facilities and the senior living community were both sued for $41 million for wrongful death.

On Wednesday, Ki Soon Hyun’s family took the case to the Multnomah County Circuit Court. The lawsuit is asking for $17 million because it says that Hyun’s death was wrong because Mt. Hood Senior Living and its owner Yi Zhou did not hire a licensed administrator, train staff properly, put in electronic monitoring systems, secure exits properly, or set up door alarms. The community is also being blamed for not making a personalized care plan for Hyun, even though she had dementia and was known to walk off, and for not telling the police or her family right away that she was missing.

The case also named Tammy Lynn Thwaite, the owner of Avant Senior Housing Managers and Consultants LLC, which was in charge of following the rules and training staff.

In addition to the $17 million for the above claims, the lawsuit is also suing the state for $24 million, saying that the Oregon Department of Human Services was negligent in letting Mt. Hood run without a licensed full-time administrator and in letting the senior living community run when they knew that staff members were not properly trained or screened and that the community was always short-staffed.

The lawsuit says that the state should have stopped or limited new admissions until the community met the need for staff and an administrator.

Apparently, because of the carelessness, Hyun’s family said he felt “conscious pain and suffering, helplessness, fear, anxiety, terror, and the pain of freezing.” According to Hyun’s daughter Alex Smith, a mental health nurse case manager, seniors going missing at their care homes is becoming a bigger problem across the country. She said this at a news conference on Wednesday. “Mom got lost in the Oregon DHS system, which is supposed to protect and preserve the life and dignity of all Oregonians, especially our loved ones who are dying.”

She also asked that all long-term care facilities in the state be inspected for safety right away and that the state’s licensing and control procedures be checked by a third party to make sure that all laws are being followed.

In the past few months, the assisted living sector has gotten more attention, including from the US Senate Special Committee on Aging. This is because of bad press from mainstream media outlets like The Washington Post, The New York Times, and KFF Health News about the deaths of memory care residents and how the industry sets prices. The Arizona Republic also ran stories that made people worry about the safety of people who live in assisted living homes.

Investigation

Hyun, who lived in the memory care unit, was discovered in the woods outside of the community on Christmas Day 2023, just two days after moving into Mt. Hood. According to police accounts, she died overnight from the cold after going outside without being seen.

After Hyun’s death, the Oregon Long-Term Care Ombudsman’s office looked into the community and just recently put out a report on what they found. That study said there were a lot of problems and criticized the state for not doing more to protect the people who lived there before and after Hyun’s death.

The ombudsman’s report said that the things that were done or not done that led to Hyun’s death and the harm that happened to other residents after she died were “unacceptable” and caused people to lose faith in the state and its regulatory body.

ODHS did a licensing review of the community a month after the ombudsman’s investigation began. This led to a condition of “immediate jeopardy” being put on the community, which caused it to be closed. The residents were taken away late at night in a “raid and chaotic closure,” according to the ombudsman’s report.

Zhou has asked that the group not be shut down. There will be a meeting on the matter in early August.