CARMICHAEL, Calif. — In a harrowing discovery, the family of 31-year-old Jessie Marie Peterson learned that she had died and her body had been stored in cold storage for nearly a year after being told by hospital officials that she had been discharged. The shocking revelation came to light through a civil lawsuit filed by Peterson’s family in Sacramento County Superior Court against Mercy San Juan Medical Center, marking a disturbing claim of negligence.
Peterson, who suffered from Type 1 diabetes, was admitted to the hospital on April 6 last year. Concerned about her daughter’s condition, Ginger Congi, Peterson’s mother, contacted the hospital shortly after only to be informed erroneously that her daughter had been discharged. As days turned into weeks with no sign of Peterson, the family’s concern escalated into a desperate search. They filed a missing person’s report, canvassed the area, and even sought information among local homeless communities in hopes of finding any clue about Peterson’s whereabouts.
The quest for answers ended tragically nearly a year later on April 12, 2024, when officials notified the family that Peterson had been deceased the whole time, her body relegated to a cold storage shelf marked “No. Red 22A” at an off-site facility, according to hospital records reviewed by the family.
The delay in discovering her fate rendered Peterson’s body too decomposed for an open casket funeral, and it was impossible to retrieve fingerprints, adding further distress for the family who wished to have keepsakes. Additionally, the advanced state of decomposition made it unfeasible to perform an autopsy to ascertain whether medical malpractice was involved in her death.
“The pain of losing Jessie was exacerbated by the prolonged period during which we believed she could be somewhere needing our help,” said Marc Greenberg, the attorney representing the Peterson family. “To discover she had passed away right under the noses of those who were supposed to care for her compounds the trauma.”
In response to this tragic oversight, Peterson’s family is pursuing $25 million in damages from the hospital, citing a severe breach of the standard of care expected. The filing stresses that the hospital’s error deprived them of the chance of a timely goodbye and obscured potential evidence critical to understanding the circumstances of Peterson’s sudden death.
The family’s complaint highlights a grave accusation against the hospital’s practices and the dignity with which it treats those in its care. According to Greenberg, the facility failed profoundly not only in its medical duty but also in its moral obligation to treat Peterson and her family with the basic respect inherent to patient care.
Dignity Health, the network operating Mercy San Juan Medical Center, has not issued a comment regarding the case. The lawsuit underscores a stark departure from the hospital’s proclaimed commitment to treating all patients with dignity and respect—a commitment the Peterson family believes was blatantly disregarded in their daughter’s tragic case.
This lawsuit puts a spotlight on the critical importance of accountability and transparency in healthcare, particularly regarding patient whereabouts and status updates post-admission. This case may prompt a broader discussion and reassessment of patient handling practices within healthcare facilities to prevent such heart-breaking incidents in the future.