A California hospital treated a woman last April, leading her family to believe she had been missing for more than a year. In fact, she died just days after being admitted, a new lawsuit alleges.
The mother and two sisters of Jessie Peterson, who had type 1 diabetes, said hospital staff told them she had left “against medical advice” after being treated for an episode of diabetes.
According to her family, Peterson, 31, regularly visited Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael for complications from diabetes.
Two days after she was admitted on April 6, 2023, Peterson called her mother Ginger Congi to pick her up, the lawsuit said.
But a death certificate obtained by SF port revealed that she died of cardiac arrest while suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis, less than two hours after calling her mother.
The lawsuit, which seeks $15 million in damages against hospital operator Dignity Health, also makes the shocking claim that Peterson’s body was “forgotten” in the morgue for more than a year.
Jessie Peterson, pictured, died in April 2023 in a hospital after being treated for her type 1 diabetes. Her family believed she was missing for more than a year and spared no effort in searching for her
Peterson’s family filed a negligence lawsuit against hospital operator Dignity Health after hospital staff allegedly told them that Peterson had walked away on her own, leading them to believe she was still there
“Jessie’s family was not notified of Jessie’s passing, despite extensive prior communication between the hospital and Jessie’s family,” the lawsuit states. “Jessie was placed on shelf number 22 Red A and forgotten.”
Because the family thought Peterson had disappeared, they did everything they could to find her for months.
They spoke to friends and neighbors, handed out flyers, and filed missing person reports with the county and California Department of Justice.
Peterson’s sister, Angie Rubino, even spoke to homeless people in the area surrounding the hospital to see if they could provide more insight into their search, The Independent reported.
Everything changed on April 12, 2024, more than a year after Peterson’s alleged disappearance.
Then a representative from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office reportedly called Congi and told her that her daughter had been found dead in the hospital’s cold room.
“We are still very sad and we still have no answers,” Congi said The New York Times“It’s hard not to be angry.”
Ginger Congi, pictured, decided to file a lawsuit against the hospital after it refused to give her answers
Peterson, center, is pictured with her two sisters, who also helped search for her in the months following her disappearance.
The hospital where Peterson, pictured, died is said to have made no apology to the family
Congi still does not know whether her daughter had already been discharged from the hospital when she died or whether she was still receiving treatment.
The family’s attorney, Marc Greenberg, also provided the Times with a copy of Peterson’s death certificate, which was signed on April 4, 2024. It said she died on April 8, 2023.
It is still unclear why it took nearly a year for the hospital to sign her death certificate. Under California law, death certificates must be issued within 15 hours.
Peterson’s body was released to her family several days after the gruesome discovery, but her remains were “in such a state of decomposition that an open casket burial was not feasible,” the lawsuit said.
Furthermore, the advanced state of decomposition of her body made it impossible to perform an autopsy, making it impossible to substantiate a potential claim of medical negligence.
“A patient who does not survive may simply be a lifeless body to Mercy San Juan Hospital. However, Jessie was a family member, a daughter, and a sister, all of whom deserved the dignity and respect that Mercy San Juan was unfortunately unable to provide.”
“To this day, the hospital has still not apologized to Jessie’s family,” the lawsuit states.
Peterson was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child. Later in life, she struggled with drug addiction, her mother said. But that didn’t stop her from ever keeping in touch with her family
DailyMail.com reached out to hospital administrators, who told other media outlets they offer their “deepest condolences to the family at this difficult time.”
Congi said Peterson was an avid athlete as a child, dancing, doing gymnastics and water polo. She had to scale back on those activities when she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 10.
As an adult, Peterson enjoyed traveling around California, but he also struggled with drug addiction.
“She did really, really well for a year,” Congi said. “And then she took a step back.”
But even when things were tough, Peterson always kept in touch with her mother.
Congi said she decided to file the lawsuit, which seeks $5 million in actual damages and $10 million in punitive damages, when the hospital blocked all of her questions about how Peterson died.
But she admitted that her biggest question will likely never be answered.
“I would love to know what happened to Jessie in her last moments,” she said.
