Family of Jessie Peterson file lawsuit against Sacramento area hospital after failing to notify them of their daughter’s death after instead they were told she’d checked out, when instead her body lay unclaimed in a morgue for over a year.
Searching for a whole year … only to find out their missing daughter had been dead the whole time, after a Sacramento area hospital neglected to notify them of their patient’s death just days after she checked herself in.
A California family have filed a lawsuit against a Sacramento area hospital after failing to notify them that their ‘missing’ daughter had died shortly after checking in, when instead the medical facility told them that the 31 year old had checked out. Unbeknownst to Jessie Peterson’s family, her unclaimed body had been decomposing in one of its offsite morgues during the entire year.
Jessie Peterson, 31, died at the Mercy San Juan Medical Center, just outside Sacramento, in April last year after admitting herself for treatment for her long-diagnosed Type 1 diabetes, according to a negligence suit filed this month.
Searching for a whole year … only to find out their missing Sacramento daughter had been dead the whole time
Her relatives in the filed suit, claim the hospital failed to inform them about Jessie’s death and instead shipped her body off to its storage facility where she would lie forgotten in a freezer for months.
They only recently learned of Peterson’s fate after spending a year reporting her missing to cops, posting flyers, calling friends and canvassing the area she frequented in a bid to track her down, court papers charge according SFGate.
‘Mercy San Juan stored Jessie in an off-site warehouse morgue and she was left to decompose for nearly a year while her family relentlessly inquired about her whereabouts,’ the lawsuit states.
By that time, Peterson’s body was ‘so decomposed that an open casket funeral was not feasible’ and her fingerprints couldn’t be obtained for any keepsakes, the lawsuit says.
Her remains were also ‘so discolored that her tattoos could not be identified,’ stated the lawsuit which seeks $5 million in damages for negligence and emotional toll.
LAWSUIT: The mother of Jessie Marie Peterson says they spent a year searching for their daughter thinking she was alive.
Only to find out she had passed away inside a Sacramento hospital after seeking treatment and her body was kept in storage the whole time. pic.twitter.com/dS5FUb4ain
— Andres Valle (@AndresValleTV) August 21, 2024
Your daughter checked out …
According to the suit, Peterson had checked herself into the hospital on April 6, 2023 after experiencing a flare-up related to her diabetes — a condition she was diagnosed with at 10 and was regularly treated for.
She called her mom, Ginger Congi, two days later and asked to be picked up, according to the suit. But when the mother arrived at the hospital, she was allegedly informed that Peterson’s medical records showed she’d checked herself out against medical advice on April 8.
Peterson’s mom and two sisters ‘relentlessly’ began searching for their missing relative over the next few months, the suit states.
Then, more than a year after her family was led to believe she had vanished, a Sacramento County Sheriff’s detective reached out on April 12 to inform them that her body had been located in one of Mercy San Juan’s off-site storage facilities, according to court docs.
Peterson’s death certificate — which wasn’t signed until April this year when her body was located — listed the daughter having died from ‘cardiopulmonary arrest’ at age 31, the suit states.
Damages sought
Her loved ones claim they weren’t able to do an autopsy to rule out any alleged medical malpractice because it took a year to be informed of her death.
‘Defendants’ failure to issue a timely certificate of death, failure to notify Jessie’s next of kin, failure to allow an autopsy, and mishandling of Jessie’s remains [was] negligent, careless, and heartless,’ the lawsuit states.
‘While a patient that doesn’t survive may be just another lifeless body to Mercy San Juan hospital, Jessie was a family member, daughter, and sister, all of whom deserved the dignity and respect Mercy San Juan grossly failed to provide.’
The family is seeking more than $5m in damages, as well as ‘five times the jury’s award of actual damages to punish defendants for their outrageous and inexcusable negligence’ and attorneys’ fees.
It wasn’t until a year after Jessie’s death that a death certificate was issued by the medical facility. Normal procedure mandates a death certificate being issued within 15 hours of patient’s death
Dignity Health which operates Mercy San Juan has since released a statement to ABC10, stating, ‘We extend our deepest sympathies to the family during this difficult time. We are unable to comment on pending litigation.’
Jessie’s family maintain those sentiments were never expressed to them as they now gear up to take their case to the courts.
