Another key leader has left the Oregon State Hospital, adding to concerns circulating around the state’s beleaguered psychiatric facility. Dr. Morgyn Beckman, the state hospital’s director of forensic evaluation services, resigned on Feb. 19, citing an “exponentially increasing workload ” due to a new law passed by the Oregon Legislature as well as “near constant scrutiny” on her unit due to federal court oversight of the hospital. “While I continue to find this work important, I must do what is best for me,” Beckman wrote in her resignation letter, a redacted version of which was obtained by The LundReport under Oregon Public Records Law. Beckman’s departure adds to the hospital’s list of leadership positions that lack a permanent hire, including superintendent, deputy superintendent, chief of nursing, and chief medical officer. Dave Boyer, managing attorney of Disability Rights Oregon, which helped spark federal court oversight with litigation, said the departure represents the latest piece of evidence that state officials need to do more to address what’s happening at the state hospital. “When a house is on fire, those who can leave do — and that’s exactly what we’re seeing at the state hospital,” Boyer told The Lund Report. “But people in mental health crisis need stability and continuity to heal, not a house in flames. State officials cannot keep watching leadership walk out the door and calling it a personnel matter. This is a crisis.” Beckman joined the hospital in 2022. She could not be reached for comment as of publication. The hospital is struggling to keep staff on the job beyond its top spots as well. Earlier this month, hospital officials reported that the rate of nurses not showing up to work — known in nursing circles as the call-out rate  — is about 50% higher than that of other hospitals. On average, 26% of nurses and unit staff did not report for duty on any given day in the last quarter. Last week, a union official told The Lund Report the absences were due to understaffing by management, saying, “No one wants to enter an already high-risk environment on an understaffed shift and then risk being mandated to stay for another shift. People do not feel safe coming to work, and it has a huge impact on our ability to do our jobs.”  “When a house is on fire, those who can leave, do — and that’s exactly what we’re seeing at the state hospital.” DAVE BOYER, MANAGING ATTORNEY OF DISABILITY RIGHTS OREGON New law adds to workloads HB 2005, passed by lawmakers last year, loosened restrictions around when and how a person who is mentally ill could be civilly committed to the Oregon Health Authority for psychiatric care. It also placed into law discharge deadlines, approved earlier by federal judges, that establish limits on how long a criminal defendant can be held at the hospital.  Criminal defendants comprise the bulk of Oregon State Hospital patients, and critics of the discharge deadlines say they have created a revolving door that is causing staff burnout, disrupting hospital emergency rooms and hurting public safety. That means more work for the forensic evaluators who are crucial to timely admitting patients to the institution. The hospital is also under a federal court order to admit criminal defendants, referred to as forensic or “aid-and-assist” patients, within a week of a judge’s ruling that they need the hospital’s care before they can aid and assist in her own defense. The hospital has repeatedly failed to meet those terms, leading to a federal contempt ruling against Oregon Health Authority leadership last year, coupled with fines. As a condition of the contempt ruling, the hospital is under the oversight of a court monitor, who regularly evaluates the hospital’s performance in admitting and discharging patients in compliance with the federal court order. The monitor’s most recent report, issued in December, noted that the hospital’s forensic evaluation services, which Beckman oversaw, were keeping up with the six- month statutory timelines, but noted there were concerns that the amount of referrals for evaluation would increase after January due to HB 2005. The law helped drive Beckman’s decision, according to her resignation letter: “Ultimately, my decision is related to the exponentially increasing workload under HB 2005 and the near constant scrutiny on FES in relation to the ongoing federal case,” Beckman wrote. The resignation is effective March 31. Beckman noted that the forensic evaluation unit has more then doubled, and has shifted from being siloed to being well-integrated with other units, while drawing “kudos” internally and externally for its good work. String of resignations Beckman’s resignation is just the latest in a series of resignations at the facility, which provides care for more than 1,500 people each year between its main campus in Salem and another in Junction City. The facility’s superintendent, Dolly Matteucci resigned in March 2024, after which Chief Medical Officer Sara Walker took over as interim superintendent.  In April 2025, during a federal inspection triggered by the third death at the institution within a year, health authority leaders asked Walker to resign after Kotek told them to make a change. Jim Diegel, the former president and CEO of the Redmond-based St. Charles Health System, took over as interim superintendent in June. Last July, Dr. Ryan Bell, acting interim chief medical officer and chief of psychiatry at the Oregon State Hospital, abruptly resigned, saying he could not support the strategies and plans for the hospital that were being pursued by health authority leadership. Meanwhile, several attempts by the state to fill Matteucci’s position permanently have failed, either because a finalist decided against taking the job or was not considered qualified to hold it. This article was republished with permission from The Lund Report, an independent nonprofit health news organization based in Oregon. Editor Nick Budnick can be reached at [email protected]. STORY TIP OR IDEA? Send an email to Salem Reporter’s news team: [email protected]. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. 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