Family of Jessie Peterson, 31, spent a year searching for her before learning hospital had shipped body to storage facility

Jessie Peterson’s family spent a year searching for her after they were told that she had checked herself out of a California hospital against medical advice – before they learned that she had been dead all along.

The 31-year-old died in the care of Mercy San Juan medical center in Sacramento in April 2023. The hospital shipped her body to a storage facility and did not inform her mother and sisters. The family only learned her fate the following April after months of trying to find her, according to a civil lawsuit against the hospital.

In the lawsuit, filed earlier this month, the family described the hospital’s conduct as “malicious and outrageous” and accused the facility of negligence, the negligent handling of a corpse and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

  • @[email protected]
    222•26 days ago

    Her body was so decomposed the family could not obtain her fingerprints or hold an open casket funeral, and an autopsy that could have indicated whether there had been medical malpractice associated with her death was “rendered impossible”, according to the lawsuit.

    This is fishy as fuck

    • @jpreston2005
      81•26 days ago

      At this point, you should just assume some sort of medical malpractice, and likely, sexual assault. Better to face a lawsuit about mishandling of a corpse, than a lawsuit about your staff assaulting patients under their care. From a business perspective, it’s a no-brainer /s

      • aname
        26•26 days ago

        Nice, so a destruction of evidence cse as well

    • @Duamerthrax
      28•26 days ago

      Honestly, this might be the simplest explanation. This would be a uniquely stupid mistake otherwise.