A woman’s body is allegedly misplaced at a hospital in Sacramento County. The mother of the woman said that she was unaware of her daughter’s passing for a whole year.
In April 2023, Jessie Peterson was admitted to the Mercy San Juan Medical Center located in Carmichael. Ginger Congi, her mother, said that her daughter’s Type 1 diabetes was frequently treated with medicine. Congi stated that although though Peterson’s diagnosis came while she was a teenager, she “just carried on.”
Peterson requested a hospital pickup over the phone with her mother in April of last year. Congi mentioned her daughter’s desire to go. After being hospitalized for treatment following a diabetic episode, Congi assured her that she was in the safest place. Their conversation would end here.
In Sacramento County, the family sued Mercy San Juan Medical Center and Dignity Health, claiming that April 8, 2023, was the day they called.
Three days later, Congi claimed she tried to get in touch with Peterson’s room and was informed that he had been released from the hospital against doctor’s orders. A year later, Congi claimed to have discovered the truth: in April 2023, two hours after they spoke on the phone, her daughter passed away.
“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 stated.
After officially reporting Peterson missing, the family started searching for her. They displayed fliers with her picture and the phone number of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.
“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 stated.
When a sheriff’s office detective called Peterson’s family on April 12, 2024, informing them that she had been discovered dead at Mercy San Juan hospital, answers finally arrived.
A passage in the family’s lawsuit states, “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.”
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The lawsuit states that Peterson’s body was transferred to an off-site cold storage facility.
“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 stated.
Congi stated that in order to stop this from occurring to other families, she is taking legal action and demanding accountability.
The family’s cause of action in the case for a total of $5 million in real and statutory damages claims irresponsible handling of a corpse, carelessness, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
