An Oregon senior living community and the state agency that oversees long-term care facilities were hit with a $41 million wrongful death lawsuit in the death of a memory care resident who wandered out into the cold on Christmas Eve and was found dead the next day.
The family of Ki Soon Hyun filed the complaint on Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The lawsuit is seeking $17 million over allegations that Mt Hood Senior Living and owner Yi Zhou were responsible for the wrongful death of Hyun because it did not employ a licensed administrator, properly train staff members, install electronic monitoring systems, adequately secure exits and install door alarms. The community also is accused of not creating an individualized care plan for Hyun even though she had a dementia diagnosis and was known to wander, and for not immediately notifying authorities or the family that Hyun was missing.
Avant Senior Housing Managers and Consultants LLC, which was responsible for regulatory compliance and staff training, and owner Tammy Lynn Thwaite, also were named in the lawsuit.
In addition to the $17 million for the aforementioned allegations, the lawsuit is seeking $24 million from the state over allegations that the Oregon Department of Human Services was negligent in allowing Mt Hood to operate without a licensed full-time administrator and for allowing the senior living community to operate knowing that staff members were not trained properly and had not undergone proper background checks, and that the community was chronically understaffed.
According to the complaint, the state should have ceased or restricted new admissions until the community met those staffing and administrator requirements.
As a result of the alleged negligence, the family said, Hyun experienced “conscious pain and suffering, helplessness, fear, anxiety, terror and the pain of freezing.”
“The truth is that seniors going missing at their care homes is a rising problem nationwide,” Alex Smith, Hyun’s daughter and a behavioral health nurse case manager, said Wednesday during a news conference. “Mom fell through the cracks in the Oregon DHS system — a system that should protect and preserve the life and dignity of all Oregonians, particularly our loved ones at the end of their lives.”
She also called for an immediate safety review of all long-term care facilities in the state, as well as for an independent audit looking into the state’s licensing and regulation practices, to ensure that all state laws are being followed.
The assisted living sector has come under increased scrutiny in recent months, including from the US Senate Special Committee on Aging, following negative attention from lay media outlets, including The Washington Post and The New York Times and KFF Health News, regarding deaths of memory care residents and industry pricing structures. The Arizona Republic also published articles questioning resident safety in assisted living communities.
The investigation
Hyun, a resident of the community’s memory care unit, was found in a wooded area outside of the community on Christmas Day 2023, two days after moving into Mt Hood. Police reports indicated that she succumbed to the cold weather overnight after wandering outside undetected.
The Oregon Long-Term Care Ombudsman’s office recently released a report following an investigation into the community after Hyun’s death. That report alleged numerous problems and chided the state for not intervening to protect residents both before and after Hyun’s death.
The ombudsman’s report maintained that actions and inactions leading to Hyun’s death and further harm to residents after her death were “unacceptable” and led to a breakdown in trust with the state and its regulatory agency.
A month after the ombudsman’s investigation began, ODHS conducted a licensing investigation of the community, which led to the issuance of a condition of “immediate jeopardy” and closure of the community. That action led to the late-night removal of residents in a “raid and chaotic closure,” according to the ombudsman’s report.
Zhou has appealed the closure of the community. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for early August.
