Sacramento, Calif. — A shocking and emotionally charged lawsuit has been filed by the family of Jessie Marie Peterson, a 31-year-old Sacramento resident, who died following a medical episode related to her Type 1 diabetes at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in April 2023. For an entire year, her family was led to believe she had been discharged and was alive, while her body lay unclaimed in a hospital cold storage facility.
Peterson’s kin claim their devastating journey began shortly after being falsely informed by hospital staff that she had been discharged. Meanwhile, the truth was grimly different; Peterson had passed away within the hospital’s care, and her body had been moved to cold storage without any notification to her family.
Ginger Congi, Peterson’s mother, expressed profound disappointment and mistrust in the hospital’s handling of her daughter’s case. “I have absolutely no faith in your hospital and the way you care for patients. You’ve lost all of that from me,” Congi stated, reflecting her deep sense of betrayal and grief.
It wasn’t until a detective called in early April 2024 that the family learned the tragic reality — the body of their family member had indeed been located in the hospital’s facility, not by the riverbank as one of their worst fears suggested, but in storage. This revelation only surfaced after futile searches including a missing person’s report and repeated inquiries to the local coroner.
The legal complaint lodged in Sacramento County Superior Court on August 7 demands over $5 million in damages. Allegations point to grave mishandling of Peterson’s corpse, extensive emotional distress inflicted on the family, and clear violations of California’s health and safety codes.
According to court records, steps that were legally required, such as timely issuance of a death certificate within 15 hours and notification of next of kin, were woefully neglected. Marc Greenberg, the attorney representing Peterson’s family, emphasized the legal obligations were ignored. “He was bound and required by California law to issue a death certificate within 15 hours and to contact the family or next of kin. He did neither,” Greenberg said. Instead, Peterson’s death certificate was not issued until nearly a full year after her death.
In response to the lawsuit, Dignity Health extended their “deepest sympathies to the family during this difficult time,” but refrained from further comments citing ongoing litigation.
Peterson was a local graduate who attended Sierra College. She had lived with Type 1 diabetes since she was ten years old. Unfortunately, her chronic condition took a fateful turn on April 6, 2023, leading to her admittance into the hospital from which she never returned home as expected by her loved ones.
Further complicating the family’s grievance is the condition in which Peterson’s remains were eventually discovered. The lawsuit details that the extended period of mismanagement rendered traditional funeral rites impossible, including an open casket ceremony. Her body was too decomposed for these last respects, and even obtaining fingerprints for keepsakes was unfeasible.
The fallout from this case exposes potential systemic issues in hospital operations and patient family communications, echoing the need for stringent adherence to both medical ethics and legal obligations regarding patient care and post-mortem procedures. As the lawsuit progresses, it not only seeks justice for the Peterson family but also underscores a dire warning about the responsibilities healthcare institutions hold towards those they serve.