Numerous hospitals in California have been accused of misleading families regarding the circumstances of their loved ones’ deaths, as claimed in various lawsuits filed within the state.

An SFGate investigative report reveals that the Dignity Health medical group is facing multiple lawsuits from families whose relatives reportedly passed away under the hospitals’ care. Upon reviewing three of these ongoing lawsuits, Law&Crime discovered allegations from families that accuse the hospital group of unauthorized organ harvesting, falsely stating that a patient checked out “against medical advice,” and transferring deceased individuals to offsite mortuaries where their bodies were left to decompose.

One notable account detailed by SFGate involves 31-year-old Jessie Peterson, diagnosed with Type I diabetes in childhood and frequently hospitalized due to her condition. The lawsuit notes that Peterson was admitted to Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Sacramento on April 6, 2023, following a “diabetic episode.” On April 8, 2023, Peterson reached out to her mother, Ginger Congi, at 2:50 p.m. requesting a pick-up, but Congi advised her to remain in the hospital.

Peterson died less than two hours later of cardiopulmonary arrest, but her family was never notified of the death, the lawsuit stated. Congi was told that her daughter was “discharged against medical advice” on the day she died. Hospital records showed that Peterson’s body was put in cold storage on April 9, 2023, “and forgotten.”

Her family filed a missing person report in Sacramento County, and her case eventually reached the U.S. Department of Justice. On April 12, 2024 — more than a year after Peterson’s death — detectives told her family that her corpse was found at the same hospital where she died. Her death certificate had been issued on April 4, 2024, nearly a year after she died at that hospital.

By the time Peterson’s family had access to her remains, her body was “so discolored” from decomposition that “her tattoos could not be identified,” the lawsuit said. Her body was in such poor condition that the family could not have an open casket funeral.

Law&Crime also reviewed the case of 51-year-old Tonya Walker, a mother of four who was going through a tumultuous period in late 2023. Despite her struggles with drugs and homelessness, Walker kept regular contact with her family, as her family told SFGate. When she stopped returning calls on Nov. 2, 2023, it was cause for concern.

Walker’s family reported her missing on Nov. 10, 2023, not knowing that she was already dead. According to the lawsuit, Walker died at Dignity Health’s Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento on Nov. 2, 2023, but no one notified her family, and a death certificate was never issued. The lawsuit stated that her body was transferred to a mortuary service where it “sat decomposing in improper storage for seven months.”

In the meantime, Walker’s family “scoured Sacramento’s darkest recesses hoping to find her.”

According to the lawsuit, the Sacramento Police Department learned that Walker was dead on May 31, 2024. Officials notified Walker’s family that her body was at the mortuary, and family members rushed to identify and retrieve her remains. When they were brought to view Walker’s body, it was “in an unrecognizable state beyond imaginability.” The lawsuit stated that Walker’s “eyes and skin appeared to have been surgically removed,” and claimed that “Dignity appeared to have unilaterally elected to donate Ms. Walker’s organs without consent.”

The lawsuit said that this final image of Walker seen by her grieving family “will haunt them forever.”

A third case reviewed by Law&Crime involved Michael Gray, whose age was not available. According to the lawsuit against Dignity Health filed by his mother, Valeria Gray, Michael Gray died of an overdose at Mercy San Juan Medical Center on July 10, 2022. Despite having identification on him when he was admitted — including the home address where he resided with his mother, wallet, and cellphone — he was treated as a “John Doe” by the hospital and put in “offsite storage” after his death “where it was neither autopsied nor preserved.”

According to the lawsuit, the hospital claimed that a “chaplain” had contacted Michael Gray’s family to notify them of his death, but “has mistakenly called the wrong number and failed to leave a message or follow up.” The lawsuit added that the hospital could not identify who the purported “chaplain” was.

Michael Gray’s body was in storage for about one month before the hospital had it picked up by the coroner at the urging of the county sheriff’s office, which had been working with the dead man’s family to find him.

In all three cases, the deceased had arrived at the hospital with identifying information and current addresses but none of their loved ones were apparently notified that they had died. Peterson’s lawsuit claimed that Dignity Health “failed in its most fundamental duty” when it neglected to notify the woman’s family that she died.

Law&Crime reached out to Dignity Health, which has filed answers to all of the lawsuits, for comment. Michael Gray’s case was settled out of court, and legal proceedings are ongoing in the remaining two cases. SFGate reported that William Hodges, a spokesperson for Dignity Health, said that “the company is declining to comment on the allegations.”

The post ‘An unrecognizable state beyond imaginability’: Hospital lost track of bodies, lied to family members about where loved ones’ decomposing remains were kept, lawsuits say first appeared on Law & Crime.