No dignity from these fucking shits....

California hospital lost woman's body, told family she left, lawsuit says

By Andrew Chamings

A California hospital failed to inform a mother that her 31-year-old daughter died in the hospital’s care and misplaced her body for a year as family members desperately tried to find her, according to a lawsuit filed in Sacramento County. 

The mother and two sisters of Jessie Peterson, who died in April 2023 at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, a suburb of Sacramento, said that they were told Jessie left of her own accord when, in actuality, her body had been forgotten in cold storage. 

Born in 1991, Peterson grew up in Sacramento and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 10. 

On April 6, 2023, Peterson had a diabetic episode and was admitted to Mercy San Juan Medical Center, a hospital she had previously visited for diabetes-related complications. Two days later, at about 3 p.m., Jessie called her mother, Ginger Congi, from the hospital asking to be picked up, the lawsuit states. 

Less than two hours later, Peterson died at the hospital due to a cardiac arrest while suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis, her death certificate shows.

“Jessie’s family was not notified of Jessie’s passing, despite extensive previous contact between the hospital and Jessie’s family,” the lawsuit alleges. Instead, on April 11, Congi was allegedly told by hospital staff that Jessie had left “against medical advice.” Meanwhile, “Jessie was placed on Shelf Number Red 22 A and forgotten,” the lawsuit says. 

In the following months, Jessie’s mom and sisters searched high and low for her. They spoke to friends, posted flyers, asked around homeless communities and filed a missing persons report with the county and the state Department of Justice. 

On April 12, 2024, more than a year after Jessie died, a detective allegedly called Congi informing her that her daughter was found dead in a warehouse morgue at Mercy San Juan Medical Center. A few days later, Jessie’s body was recovered by the family, but her remains were “so decomposed that an open casket funeral was not feasible,” the lawsuit states. The state of the body also meant that no autopsy could be carried out to prove or disprove medical malpractice, the family said. 

“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 lawsuit says. “Even to this day, the hospital has not apologized to Jessie’s family members.”

The civil suit, brought against hospital operators Dignity Health, accuses the defendants of negligent handling of a corpse, infliction of emotional distress and a violation of California health and safety codes. In the complaint, Jessie’s family describe her as a “loving and energetic” person who played on the Roseville High School water polo and dance teams. 

“Dignity claims to have ‘changed their name to Dignity Health to better describe what we stand for.’ They certainly didn’t convey dignity to Jessie or her family,” the plaintiffs’ attorney Marc Greenberg told SFGATE over email. “We hope to be the catalyst for that change.”

“We extend our deepest sympathies to the family during this difficult time,” a Dignity Health spokesperson told SFGATE in a statement on Wednesday. “We are unable to comment on pending litigation.”