The Oregon State Hospital in Salem, the state’s only public psychiatric hospital, is facing multiple lawsuits alleging retaliation against those who have formally raised serious issues about the way it is treating — or failing to treat — its patients.

OSH has been out of compliance with federal standards in recent years, and it has been found in contempt of court for not admitting mentally ill criminal defendants quickly enough.

Last year, the death of a patient prompted Lindsay Sande, the deputy chief nursing officer at OHS, to file a formal complaint, and was demoted shortly thereafter, along with two other whistleblowers.

We’ll talk with Lillian Mongeau Hughes who covers homelessness and mental health for The Oregonian/Oregonlive.com. And we hear directly from Lindsey Sande, one of the nurses who spoke out over their grave concerns about how OSH patients are cared for and how employees who speak up are being retaliated against.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/08/think-out-loud-oregon-state-hospital-nurses-patients-risk/