The family of 25-year-old Kenneth Hass has taken Oregon State Hospital to federal court, alleging he was “tortured” during nearly three years in state custody before dying alone in a seclusion room. In a newly filed lawsuit, relatives say Hass was subjected to repeated, marathon restraint sessions — one of them lasting 59 hours — that left him with bed sores, infections and other injuries. His sister, Sierra Hass, who is bringing the case on behalf of his estate, contends his final months were spent largely cut off from other patients and meaningful care.
The complaint, filed July 13, 2026, in U.S. District Court in Portland by Sierra Hass and attorneys Tom D'Amore, Ben Turner and Michelle Burrows, names the State of Oregon and several hospital clinicians as defendants. It seeks at least $225,000 in damages and alleges that medical records show Hass was tied to a bed for more than 20 days over roughly three years of confinement, with long stretches in restraints contributing to a urinary tract infection and pressure injuries, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Evidence of prolonged seclusion
Hass’s experience did not emerge in a vacuum. Internal reviews and consultant reports had already raised red flags about how the hospital was using seclusion. A state-contracted gap analysis flagged extended isolation as an urgent problem months before his death. Lookout Eugene‑Springfield reports that Chartis consultants told Oregon Health Authority and hospital leaders in November 2024 that patients were remaining in seclusion “days and weeks” longer than appropriate and that the hospital’s use of seclusion was higher than at comparable facilities.
State response and leadership change
State officials say they rolled out reforms in the wake of that scrutiny, and the hospital has seen leadership turnover as pressure mounted. Willamette Week reported that Sean Murphy was scheduled to take over as superintendent on July 13, 2026, following a string of interim leaders who exited after Hass’s high-profile death and the wave of reporting that followed.
What the lawsuit argues
The lawsuit claims state actors and clinicians showed deliberate indifference and violated Hass’s Fourteenth Amendment rights. In stark language, the filing argues that Hass was “tortured and deprived of his dignity, his autonomy and his right to care and assistance,” according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The suit lists the state and several hospital leaders as defendants and asks a federal judge to hold them responsible for care decisions that relatives say culminated in Hass’s death in a seclusion room on March 18, 2025.
Background and oversight
The hospital has been under a microscope from federal and local overseers. A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services statement of deficiencies dated April 30, 2025, outlines documented problems at the Salem campus and remains part of the public record. Federal surveys and other reviews have cataloged lapses as the state works to show the facility is back in compliance. Records from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Oregon Health Authority detail that timeline.
With the federal complaint now in play, the estate’s legal team says it will push for discovery and depositions that could drill into how seclusion and restraints were used at Oregon State Hospital. The state and the clinicians named in the suit have not yet filed public responses in the court docket. The case adds another layer of scrutiny to the institution’s practices, even as regulators, lawmakers and local prosecutors continue their own separate reviews of what happened inside those locked units.
