State Faces $10 Million Lawsuit Following Death at Sandy Memory Care Facility

Today, lawyers representing the family of Ki Soon “Harmony” Hyun, the 83-year-old woman suffering from dementia who wandered away from a Sandy senior care home in December and died, filed a lawsuit demanding over $10 million from the state and the facility’s administrators.

It comes in the wake of a report by the state ombudsman that the death was preventable: State regulators at the Oregon Department of Human Services had missed numerous red flags and dragged their feet in shutting down the facility, Mt. Hood Senior Living.

The facility, opened just last year, had gone through three administrators. At the time of Hyun’s death, the bookkeeper was in charge, lawyers say.

“Our mom deserved better,” said Hyun’s daughter, Alex Smith, who works as a nurse case manager at Outside In. “Gov. Tina Kotek and our elected leaders in Salem must hold DHS accountable to strengthen licensing requirements and reduce safety risks by providing much closer oversight, regulation and training of all long-term care facilities in Oregon.”

The ombudsman is demanding an independent audit of DHS. The lawsuit, filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, is demanding upwards of $10 million in damages, although that’s not necessarily an indication of how much a jury would ultimately award at trial.

Pressure is increasing, not only in Oregon but nationwide, to increase oversight of facilities like Mt. Hood Senior Living. In December, prior to Hyun’s death, the Washington Post reported that nearly 100 residents of assisted-living homes across the United States had wandered away and died in the past five years.

The chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Sen. Bob Casey, is now demanding an investigation.