California, US - Jessie Peterson, 31, missing for a year found dead in hospital’s storage facility, hospital had told family she had checked out

[JennieM]

US hospital told family their daughter had checked out when in fact she’d died

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.

[…]

“Mercy San Juan hospital failed in its most fundamental duty to notify Jessie’s family of her death,” the lawsuit states. “Mercy San Juan stored Jessie in an off-site warehouse morgue and she was left to decompose for nearly a year while her family relentlessly inquired about her whereabouts.”

[…]

Congi was later told that Peterson had left the hospital against medical advice, and her medical records indicate she was discharged on 8 April. After her sudden disappearance, the family spent months “relentlessly” searching for her, posting flyers, speaking with unhoused residents in the area, and contacting police and the coroner’s office, according to the lawsuit.

[…]

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.

[…]

US hospital told family their daughter had checked out when in fact she’d died

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

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

California law requires physicians to fill out a death certificate within 15 hours of a death. Peterson’s wasn’t filed for 361 days, according to the lawsuit.

[…]

According to Greenberg, family members also have found inconsistencies in the medical documents they’ve received, raising further questions about Peterson’s death.

One record indicates that Peterson pulled out her own intravenous line at one point, but two others state a nurse disconnected it, Greenberg said.

A California hospital told her family she left. Her body was found in cold storage months later, suit says

Jessie Peterson's family searched nearly a year for her. In a lawsuit, they allege Mercy San Juan Medical Center failed to tell them she died, and instead put her body in cold storage.

www.latimes.com

 

[Rikissa]

One record indicates that Peterson pulled out her own intravenous line at one point, but two others state a nurse disconnected it, Greenberg said.

Both could be true, JP might have pulled the intravenous needle at one point, and got a new one if she needed more fluids, and that needle was later disconnected.

 

[Dotta]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1826630256603595152

 

[Aycheff]

Wow. This is egregious.

 

[formerlyme]

what a horrible nightmare, I cannot imagine...

 

[Charlot123]

The cause of death is unknown, but could be natural in a person checking herself into a hospital for type I diabetes episode. The rest is total disorganization. If they didn’t realize they had a body decomposing at the hospital premises for a year. The hospital appears very busy, btw.

 

[dalsglen]

I wonder how many other missing people are in that offsite warehouse morgue...

 

[Catmommy]

I'm wondering how she was discovered.

 

[musicaljoke]

I wondered if she might have been one of the many people who sadly died of Covid when hospitals were struggling to handle all the deceased bodies. But she died in April 2023, and by then, hospital routines were starting to return to normal.

"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."

US hospital told family their daughter had checked out when in fact she’d died

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

www.theguardian.com

 

[JennieM]

Jessie Peterson’s body was taken to a cold-storage facility and placed on shelf “Red 22 A,” and remained there for 361 days, according to a lawsuit filed by her family.

Jessie Peterson, right, with her sister, Angie Rubino

Photos: Ginger J. Congi

A California hospital told her family she left. Her body was found in cold storage months later, suit says

Jessie Peterson's family searched nearly a year for her. In a lawsuit, they allege Mercy San Juan Medical Center failed to tell them she died, and instead put her body in cold storage.

www.latimes.com

 

[JennieM]

According to Greenberg, family members also have found inconsistencies in the medical documents they’ve received, raising further questions about Peterson’s death.

[…]

Another record states that a chest X-ray was done when she checked in on April 6, 2023, and was compared with a subsequent scan done on May 31, 2023.

“She was dead and in cold storage by then, so what did [they] compare it to?” Greenberg said.

A California hospital told her family she left. Her body was found in cold storage months later, suit says

Jessie Peterson's family searched nearly a year for her. In a lawsuit, they allege Mercy San Juan Medical Center failed to tell them she died, and instead put her body in cold storage.

www.latimes.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Peterson's family began a relentless search, filing a missing persons report, reaching out to the community, posting flyers with her photo throughout the city, even getting her name added to the US Department of Justice website for missing persons.

Finally, more than a year after her disappearance, a phone call from a detective with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office gave them the news they had dreaded: A death certificate had been issued for Jessie

One of Jessie's sisters went to the Sacramento County Coroner's Office but was told her remains were not there. Instead, she was told to contact the hospital.

Peterson's mother, Ginger Congi, reached someone at the hospital who told her they would call back. No call came immediately, but a mortuary later contacted Congi and said Jessie's body had been found at one of the hospital's off-site cold storage facilities.

Her body was too decomposed for an autopsy.

As it turned out, Jessie had died about two hours after her last call to her mother.

A California woman died at the hospital. Her family, unaware, searched for her for over a year

A lawsuit filed in California alleges a hospital misplaced a patient and failed to notify her family. Here is what the family says happened.

abc7chicago.com

 

[Trebor5591]

According to Greenberg, family members also have found inconsistencies in the medical documents they’ve received, raising further questions about Peterson’s death.

[…]

Another record states that a chest X-ray was done when she checked in on April 6, 2023, and was compared with a subsequent scan done on May 31, 2023.

“She was dead and in cold storage by then, so what did [they] compare it to?” Greenberg said.

A California hospital told her family she left. Her body was found in cold storage months later, suit says

Jessie Peterson's family searched nearly a year for her. In a lawsuit, they allege Mercy San Juan Medical Center failed to tell them she died, and instead put her body in cold storage.

www.latimes.com

IMO, it seems pretty clear to me that something bad happened to Jessie Peterson while she was in the hospital along the lines of gross negligence or even homicide. Hospital personnel involved then falsified records to try to protect themselves. I hope the truth comes out and those involved are punished and not allowed to work in patient care in the future. I might be wrong but then again, maybe I'm not. IMO.

 

[Charlot123]

I'm wondering how she was discovered.

I don't know. I think she was put into the temporary cold storage on the "red" shelf whatever it is (I could not find it out. If someone young dies in the hospital, autopsy is warranted? So I assume, that shelf was not in a freezer). And maybe it was eventually found the usual way, inevitably, since it was not a freezer? It was an additional storage building, as I have read.

I suspect, all wires were crossed in this case. All we know that a young woman suffering from diabetes type I for over 20 years, has gone into a major medical center for an acute diabetes-related episode. Then she called mom asking to pick her up. The mom was told that the daughter had left against medical advice. I think she told the staff she wanted to leave, we don't know if she was not happy with care, or hypoglycemic brain, or what. I suspect till this moment, the story is straight. JMO - the documents about leaving AMA were prepared. Here, the things get more strange.

Did she sign them, put her clothes on, then suddenly died? Probably, she did not even leave the ward as any sudden death in the waiting area would be witnessed by the visitors. (Anyhow, this is what i assume.) What happened after that? Was a code called? It is an event that should be registered. Was the code and the death registered? There should be the document. Did they forget to enter the code into the chart? Was she in hospital clothes? Or own ones? Who took her to the morgue?

She was quietly moved to the morgue, there are procedures for it, but somehow, the old AMA paperwork was not changed. Was it around the change of shifts? This can explain the mess. (And then, all the next shift has is "left AMA" documents, and this is what they tell the mother. It is not impossible.)

Now, that death certificate that was filled a year later is a violation but also an odd way bureaucracy works. "If someone dies in the hospital, death certificate has to be filled". So they did it.

Never mind that it is a year overdue, never mind that the cause of death can't be even determined, never mind that the police has to be called ASAP, never mind that each step now is a huge ? ? ? - who cares... If a paper is not filled, it hasn't happened. And this is what her mom and relatives are presented with, this death certificate filled a year later. Poor family.

Moreover, the patients of the hospital are traumatized, because they now think that below them, there was an unattended, decaying body. The staff, too, those who are not involved. It is unpleasant and scary, tbh. Just think of how everyone feels.

The problem is, with the obvious level of disorganization, who can even tell what happened? I am thinking - what if, indeed, there was a SK masking as an orderly in the hospital? He could have come into the ward, strangled her, put on a special gurney and transported to the morgue? Not the most likely event, probably, the death was natural given her diagnosis, but a year later, who can even say, no? Anything from the cameras has disappeared over one year, so no one can be too sure what had happened.

I can even imagine that the nurse who made her sign AMA papers and later came and didn't see the patient could have been confused, but that question, who registered the death, who took the body downstairs, why they put her into an additional storage? - all has to be answered. I think a detective is warranted.

(And unless the person is checked out of the hospital by the staff, she is not checked out. And if she left, because waiting might be too long, the security has to check the cameras verifying that she, indeed, has left and gone out.)

 

[PrairieWind]

While what happened to Jessie is still a mystery, it is abundantly clear that people in the hospital conducted a cover-up. But will the DA press the investigation?

 

[formerlyme]

According to Greenberg, family members also have found inconsistencies in the medical documents they’ve received, raising further questions about Peterson’s death.

[…]

Another record states that a chest X-ray was done when she checked in on April 6, 2023, and was compared with a subsequent scan done on May 31, 2023.

“She was dead and in cold storage by then, so what did [they] compare it to?” Greenberg said.

A California hospital told her family she left. Her body was found in cold storage months later, suit says

Jessie Peterson's family searched nearly a year for her. In a lawsuit, they allege Mercy San Juan Medical Center failed to tell them she died, and instead put her body in cold storage.

www.latimes.com

Incredible gross mismanagement, the x-ray does raise one red flag and there are so many others. If she was in "cold storage" how was there too much decomp to do an autopsy?

 

[formerlyme]

maybe stolen Identity? my sister recently checked herself into a hospital as a no info pt, the hospital put her as jane doe in the records , I had to call police etc, they finally found her as a Jane Doe but she wanted no info given. Perhaps this young lady was the same? I cannot begin to tell you the stress and worry I still have so I cannot imagine her parents, but I can empathize. Maybe Jane Doe's got mixed up ?

 

[JennieM]

“When they think of her now, they think of her on a shelf in a body bag instead of how she was,” said Greenberg of Peterson’s family. “They don’t really have the closure of knowing what the hell really happened.”

MSN

 

[Charlot123]

Incredible gross mismanagement, the x-ray does raise one red flag and there are so many others. If she was in "cold storage" how was there too much decomp to do an autopsy?

From what I understand (I had to Google) there is a refrigerator for the morgue and a -4 storage for bodies meant for autopsy. I assume a sudden death for a woman in the hospital would warrant a PM. But the body was placed into an additional storage. Did they forget about it?

There are three levels of disconnect, one, upstairs one, between the hospital and the morgue and one, in the morgue. It all could still indicate, not malice, merely lack of staffing, but needs to be evaluated and a detective work has to be done. If only to prevent it in the future.