Her Family Thought She Was Missing. She Was Dead In Hospital Cold Storage: Lawsuit

CARMICHAEL, CA — A Sacramento area family is suing Dignity Health after the mother of a 31-year-old woman who died at Mercy San Juan Medical Center was told her daughter had been discharged, according to the complaint, which said the daughter's remains were left in cold storage for a year as her loved ones tried frantically to find her.

The family is seeking a jury trial and more than $5 million.

Jessie Marie Peterson was admitted April 6, 2023, for a diabetic episode, the lawsuit said. She told her mother two days later that she planned to leave but died in the hospital the same day, although her family was not notified and her records said she had been discharged against medical advice, which is what her mother was told three days after her death, according to the complaint.

By that time, her body was at a cold storage facility, where it would remain for roughly a year, the lawsuit said, noting the hospital legally must issue a death certificate within 15 hours of the event but that it instead did so almost a year later on April 4, 2024, just days before her remains were found. The certificate said Peterson died of a cardiopulmonary arrest, according to the complaint.

In the interim, her family searched for her, the lawsuit said, adding a missing person report was filed with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and her information was posted on the justice department’s missing persons website.

Finally, on April 12, 2024, the county detective’s office told the family that Peterson had been found at the hospital but her body was so decomposed that an open casket funeral was not possible, her fingerprints couldn’t be obtained and her tattoos were unidentifiable, according to the complaint.

“Mercy San Juan hospital advertises that ‘at our care facilities, we take pride in treating all people with dignity and respect,’” the lawsuit said. “In this case, there was no dignity and no respect.”

Dignity Health declined to comment on the lawsuit but offered “our deepest sympathies to the family during this difficult time,” according to multiple reports.