A former Oregon State Hospital nurse accused of sexually harassing and grooming two women committed to the psychiatric facility resigned from his state job in 2022 — but he never lost his nursing license, even after Oregon paid $1 million to settle the women's lawsuits. David Peter Herne, now 57, worked as a registered psychiatric nurse and administrative program manager at the hospital's campuses, including a satellite site in Junction City, before stepping down on May 1, 2022.
According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, one of the women, Dianne M. Davidoff, was admitted to Oregon State Hospital's Salem campus in February 2017 after she was found guilty except for insanity in the 2015 killing of her 17-year-old son while she was experiencing hallucinations. She was later transferred to the Junction City campus in July 2018. Herne allegedly sent her two dozen roses and lingerie in 2021 while she was a patient, and Davidoff says she blocked his number by April 2021 — but he allegedly sent her two more voicemails that May.
The other woman identified in the lawsuits, known in court records as H.L., was found guilty except for insanity of assaulting a public safety officer and criminal mischief on June 16, 2017, and was released to a group home by fall 2019. She alleges Herne accessed her confidential medical file to locate her after her release, then encountered her at her Portland church on January 2, 2022 — an incident she described as stalking.
Two Lawsuits, One $1 Million Settlement
H.L. filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court in 2022, while Davidoff filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state in June 2022. Oregon settled both civil lawsuits in 2024, paying $500,000 to each woman for a combined $1 million, and the report notes Davidoff's federal case was resolved following an April 10, 2024, settlement conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman, according to PacerMonitor federal court records.
The lawsuits accused Oregon State Hospital of maintaining a policy of reckless indifference to known or suspected sexual abuse. The hospital has denied knowing about the alleged inappropriate contacts when they occurred, though it acknowledged receiving the allegations in tort claim notices dated March 30, 2022. The Oregon Department of Justice said the settlements were the most appropriate way to resolve the cases, and Herne has denied the allegations against him.
Davidoff told reporter Molly Taube, who interviewed both women after their lawsuits settled, that state authorities did not investigate or care about the allegations. A coworker, Catherine Hoyt, said Herne commented on her weight and screamed at her while they worked together, and said flatly that he was not fit to be a nurse. H.L. said she and Davidoff had to do something about his conduct.
A License That Never Lapsed
Despite the settlements and the administrative rule violations they implicate, the Oregon State Board of Nursing took no disciplinary action against Herne's nursing license. He still holds an active Oregon license through February 2027, along with active licenses in Washington state and Texas. Oregon State Police reported the agency has no records of ever investigating him.
Under Oregon Administrative Rule 851-045-0070, the state nursing board explicitly classifies failing to maintain professional boundaries and engaging in patient sexual misconduct as violations subject to public discipline, license suspension, or revocation, according to the Oregon Secretary of State's administrative rules. Oregon's rules also impose a mandatory legal duty on health care facilities and licensed nurses to report suspected Nurse Practice Act violations or boundary breaches to the state board. Because the nursing board typically relies on formal findings or law enforcement referrals to act, and no criminal investigation was ever opened, Herne's licenses have remained active and visible through Nursys, the national database operated by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing that tracks license and discipline status across member states, including Oregon, Washington and Texas.
Herne was paid $130,589 as a nurse manager during the fiscal year in which he resigned, per records cited in the report.
Part of a Larger Pattern at the State Hospital
Both women were committed under Oregon's “Guilty Except for Insanity” framework, which places such patients under the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board for commitments, conditional releases and community monitoring up to the maximum statutory sentence of the underlying crime, according to the Psychiatric Security Review Board. That legal status leaves patients under close state supervision — and, advocates say, uniquely exposed to power imbalances with the staff overseeing their care.
The $1 million payout was also shaped by the Oregon Tort Claims Act, which caps the state's monetary liability for personal injury claims and bars juries from awarding punitive damages against public bodies, as explained by legal analysis from Paulson Coletti. That cap has a long history at the hospital: in 2004, Oregon State Hospital agreed to pay $200,000 — the statutory maximum at the time — to settle claims over the 2001 restraint death of patient Ben Bartow, according to a 2004 report from The Oregonian.
The Herne case surfaces amid broader scrutiny of Oregon State Hospital's safety record. Oregon Health Authority records disclosed in 2025 showed 21 patients died at the hospital between 2020 and 2025, with nine of those deaths classified as unexpected, as reported by OPB. In July, the estate of 25-year-old former patient Kenneth Hass filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit alleging extreme neglect, civil rights violations and physical abuse leading to his March 2025 death while he was in hospital seclusion. Court filings in that case also indicate the hospital ranked ninth nationwide among psychiatric facilities for its overall reliance on patient seclusion in 2024.
