Hospital Told Woman’s Family She Was Discharged When She Was Actually Dead

A California family has filed a personal injury lawsuit against a hospital after the hospital told the family that the woman had been discharged. The woman had actually died. Her body was kept in cold storage for a year, according to the civil lawsuit filed by the family.

According to the lawsuit, the decedent had been suffering from Type 1 diabetes when she was admitted to Mercy San Juan Medical Center on April 6, 2023. Days after the decedent was admitted, her mother called Mercy San Juan to check on her daughter. The mother was told that the daughter had been discharged.

This led the family to file a missing person’s report with the county sheriff’s department. They posted notices around town and interviewed local homeless people in the hopes that one of them had seen their loved one. The family’s searches were all in vain. It would not be until April 12, 2024, that the Sacramento County Detective’s Office notified the decedent’s family that was found deceased at Mercy San Juan Hospital.

At this point, the decedent’s body was so badly decomposed that an open casket funeral was not possible. The decedent’s fingerprints were not even obtainable for a keepsake, according to the lawsuit. The decomposition was so bad that it made it impossible to determine whether medical malpractice played a role in the decedent’s death.

The family eventually discovered that the decedent had died on April 8, 2023. But it took nearly a year to find her body. A doctor did not sign the death certificate until April 4, 2024. For that entire time, the decedent’s body had been kept on a shelf in an off-site cold storage unit, according to hospital records obtained by the family.

The family accuses the hospital of negligence. They are asking for $25 million in compensation from the defendant hospital. The hospital has not commented on the allegations made by the family.

An attorney for the family said that Mercy San Juan prides themselves on treating all people with dignity and respect. In this case, he says, there was no dignity and no respect.

Analyzing the lawsuit 

The hospital’s negligence resulted in the family suffering for a year wondering whether or not their daughter was alive. This is known as a negligent infliction of emotional distress claim. In it, the family contends that the hospital inflicted emotional distress on them, by negligently “losing” the decedent’s body. The family acted as if the decedent was still alive and reached out to the community to find her. They filed a missing person’s report and held out hope that their daughter was still alive.

Talk to an Oakland, CA Personal Injury Lawyer Today 

The Oakland, CA personal injury attorneys at Venardi Zurada represent the interests of plaintiffs who have been injured due to the negligence of another party. Call our office today to schedule a consultation, and we can begin investigating your claims right away.

Source:

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-hospital-told-womans-family-checked-was-actually-dead-lawsu-rcna167754