On August 30th, 2024, caregivers at the Aspen Ridge Retirement Community found 76-year-old Celia Hess sitting outside on a patio, completely unresponsive. Hess, who had dementia, was bundled up in winter clothing, despite temperatures outside reaching nearly 100 degrees. By the time caregivers noticed her, Hess had been sitting on the patio for hours. On September 1st, 2025, Hess passed away in the hospital of hyperthermia, where her reported internal temperature was 109 degrees.
On May 27th, 2025, Kafoury & McDougal filed a lawsuit against both Aspen Ridge and Frontier Senior Living, who managed the facility at the time of Hess’s passing. On behalf of Hess’s estate and her daughter, Melisa Finch, they are asking for $17 million in damages.
The lawsuit alleges that Aspen Ridge and Frontier are, in combination, responsible for failing to sufficiently staff their facility, leading to inadequate monitoring of and care for residents.
An investigation of the incident by the Oregon Department of Human Services found that the facility was chronically understaffed and was especially so on the day of Hess’s death. Additionally, Finch alleges that Aspen Ridge failed to communicate with the family regarding Hess. They were never included in any care plans put in place by the facility, and were not informed when Hess sustained injuries during her two-year stay. Hess’s family also claim that Hess was, at times, overmedicated by caregivers at the facility.
According to the lawsuit, Hess was placed in a memory care center because of her exit seeking and agitated behaviors, which her family did not feel equipped to handle. They specifically chose Aspen Ridge because of the assurances provided that the facility would protect and watch over Hess. They put their trust in a facility that promised to keep their mother safe. Instead, Aspen Ridge went back on their word and endangered a vulnerable woman, causing her pain, suffering, and an untimely death.
We know that this is not an isolated incident, both in Aspen Ridge and in retirement communities across Oregon and beyond.
“The pattern is the same across the nation,” says Mark McDougal, an attorney for the Hess family. “A family places their loved one in an extremely expensive memory care center, based on promises that they will receive quality care. But the residents are helpless, and once the family leaves, the misrepresentations of care and safety prove to be deadly.”
Read:
Family Sues After Heat-Related Death at Bend Senior Care Facility
Oregon family sues care home for $17M after mother dies from heat exposure | kgw.com
Family sues Bend senior care facility after woman dies from heat
Memory care facility in Bend faces $17 million wrongful death lawsuit
Family Sues After Heat-Related Death at Bend Senior Care Facility | The Source Weekly – Bend, Oregon
Family Sues Oregon Memory Facility Over Heat Death | Perigon