Sacramento County hospital misplaced woman's body for a year, family alleges
SACRAMENTO COUNTY -- A Sacramento County hospital is accused of misplacing a woman's body. The woman's mother told CBS13 that for a year, she had no idea her daughter had died.
Jessie Peterson was admitted to Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael in April 2023. According to her mother, Ginger Congi, it was not uncommon for her daughter to receive medical treatment for Type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed when she was a teenager, Congi said, and although it was difficult, Peterson "just carried on."
"She loved to run. She loved sports. She loved dance. She played the guitar," Congi said.
Last April, Peterson called her mother asking to be picked up from the hospital. Congi said her daughter wanted to leave. Congi told her she was in the safest place, admitted for treatment after a diabetic episode. This would be the last time the two spoke.
The day of their call was April 8, 2023, according to the family's lawsuit filed in Sacramento County against Mercy San Juan Medical Center and Dignity Health.
Congi said she attempted to contact Peterson's room three days later and was told that Peterson had been discharged against medical advice. The truth, Congi said she learned a year later, is that her daughter died two hours after their phone call in April 2023.
"We didn't lose hope. At that point in time, we thought, you know, maybe she's just, she's just gone silent for a little while. Then, you know, she would resurface again," Congi said.
The family set out to find Peterson and reported her missing, officially. They put up flyers with her photo and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office contact information.
"Members went in the area and handed out pictures, contacted local security guards to see if maybe they'd seen her. So the search was extensive. I was even looking at looking along the levees down in Sacramento, you know, going on bicycle rides and seeing if maybe I might come across through there. I was even looking in places when I was driving to work," Congi said.
Answers came on April 12, 2024, when a detective with the sheriff's office contacted Peterson's family that she was found dead at Mercy San Juan hospital.
"At this point, Jessie's body was so decomposed that an open casket funeral was not feasible, and Jessie's fingerprints were not even obtainable for any keepsake," as described in a line within the family's lawsuit.
Peterson's body was moved to an off-site cold storage facility, according to the lawsuit.
"They just totally discarded her. It wasn't even 24 hours after she died that they shipped her off to some storage facility and in a freezer up on a shelf, you know, and just didn't have a care in the world for her or for us," Congi said.
In a statement to CBS13, a spokesperson for Dignity Health said they could not comment due to pending litigation.
"We extend our deepest sympathies to the family during this difficult time. We are unable to comment on pending litigation."
Congi said she wants accountability and is moving forward with legal action to prevent this situation from happening to other families.
The family alleges negligent infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and negligent handling of a corpse as the cause of action in the lawsuit for a total of $5 million in actual and statutory damages.