Janice R. Andrews
A California family is distraught by the shocking news that Mercy San Juan Medical Centre in Carmichael is being sued for $25 million because it supposedly took them almost a year to tell them that their daughter had died. Jessie Peterson, who was 31 years old and had Type 1 diabetes since she was 10, went to the hospital on April 6, 2023, after having a very bad diabetic attack.
The daughter of Peterson called her mother, Ginger Congi, on April 8, 2023, to ask to be picked up from the hospital. Peterson died very quickly, just two hours after the call. Instead of telling her family right away, though, hospital staff took her body to a storage facility the next day, where it stayed for 361 days without being recognised.
The family’s trouble started when they lost touch with Peterson and couldn’t get in touch with her. Worried more and more, Congi called the hospital on April 11, 2023, only to be told that her daughter had left on her own, even though doctors had told her not to. The family started a mad statewide search for Peterson because they thought he had gone missing because of this false information.
Peterson’s family did everything they could to find her. They told the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and the California Department of Justice that she was missing. They put up flyers, called the cops, and even talked to homeless people in the area to see if they could find any clues.
Nearly a year later, on April 12, 2024, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office called Peterson’s family to break the sad news that she had died and that her body had been stored the whole time. It was shocking that her body had been kept on a shelf marked “Red 22 A.” By the time she was found, her body had broken down so much that an autopsy could not be done.
The family is now suing the hospital for “outrageous and inexcusable negligence” in how it handled Peterson’s death in order to get justice. They want $25 million in damages, including severe damages, for the pain and suffering they went through because the hospital didn’t tell them in time.
In reaction, a representative for Mercy San Juan Medical Centre told the family that the hospital was very sorry for their loss but couldn’t say anything else because the case is still being fought in court.
Many people are worried about the hospital’s policies and ways of communicating after this tragic case. They want to know how such a major mistake could have happened.
