Sacramento area mother says hospital didn’t tell her of son’s death
Two different families have filed lawsuits against the same Sacramento County hospital, claiming their loved ones died there but they were never notified.No official public record of the Mercy San Juan Medical Center patients’ deaths could be found at the Sacramento Coroner’s Office until weeks and, in one case, even months after they occurred.Meanwhile, families reported them missing and law enforcement spent time and resources trying to figure out what happened.“Michael was a wonderful son,” said his mother, Valerie Gray.Michael was 39 years old, the second oldest of four siblings.Valerie said he struggled with mental health issues and sometimes bounced around, staying with friends for weeks at a time but he always kept in touch. That changed in July 2021.“I called him day and night,” she said.She never got a response. Weeks went by and even his 40th birthday passed with no word from him.“More family members started getting together, and it was this long time nobody heard from him,” said Michael’s younger brother, Tristan Gray.So, the family got the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office on the case.Financial records helped a detective discover that Michael’s last transaction happened at a Rio Linda 7-Eleven on July 10, 2021.An employee recognized his picture, saying Michael passed out in the parking lot and an ambulance arrived at the scene, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office report that KCRA 3 Investigates obtained.After more investigating, the detective said he determined the ambulance took Michael to Mercy San Juan, a Dignity Health hospital in Carmichael.The detective called the hospital to find out more.“Per their records, he had been treated and released,” the detective wrote in his report.That did not tell the full story, though, because Michael never did walk out the doors of the hospital that day. And his mother, Valerie, said she did not learn what truly happened until August 13, 2021.“It was Friday the 13th. It was a bad day,” Valerie said. “I got a call from the coroner telling me that my son had passed away.”The family said they learned of Michael’s death one month after it happened.“I didn’t know how to process it,” Tristan said. “I really loved my brother.”A death certificate shows Michael died of a drug overdose at the San Juan Medical Center.“I didn’t know why I wasn’t contacted,” Valerie said.In a letter to Valerie months later, Dignity Health said “a chaplain attempted to notify next of kin and documented that they attempted to contact the previously listed emergency contact, Valerie Gray, twice with no response.”Valerie said she did not receive a phone call.Dignity Health also said it notified the Coroner’s Office “through the Sacramento County line on July 10, 2021, at 3:26 p.m., due to the county coroner was out of the office.”However, the Coroner’s Office said it was not notified of Michael’s death until one month later, like Valerie.In that time, the sheriff’s office investigation revealed the hospital sent Michael’s body to an off-site storage facility.Dignity Health would not tell KCRA 3 Investigates why it uses off-site storage, but it is a practice that many hospitals around the country began during the COVID-19 pandemic as their own hospital morgues filled up.“It just makes me so angry,” Valerie said. “It’s something that, you know, nobody should ever have to go through, you know, their loved one kept somewhere you don’t know.”Two years after the case of Michael Gray came the case of Jessie Peterson.“From the time that she was born, she was full of energy,” said her mother, Ginger Congi.Jessie was a familiar face at San Juan Medical Center, Ginger said. She explained that her daughter had been a child patient there because she had type 1 diabetes.She said, as an adult, Jessie was often in and out of that hospital as she struggled with drug addiction and had trouble keeping her diabetes under control.So, that is where 31-year-old Jessie was on April 8, 2023, when she called Ginger and asked to go home.“I told her I couldn’t go get her,” Ginger said. “Hospitals are supposed to be the right place for people to be cared for, and that was one of the last things that I said to her. ‘You need to stay put right where you’re at because you’re getting the best care that you need.’ And apparently, that didn’t happen.”She never heard from Jessie again.When she called the hospital a few days later, Ginger said an employee told her that Jessie left against medical advice.So, the family started a search.“I believe it was July 25 when we all finally decided to do the missing person’s report,” said Jessie’s sister, Angie Rubino.Months went by as the family and law enforcement kept looking.“I never gave up hope,” Ginger said.Then, finally, the Sheriff’s Office called with an update.“She’s been found deceased,” Angie said, repeating what she was told over the phone.They had all been searching for someone who never left.Jessie died at the hospital on April 8, 2023, less than two hours after her phone call with her mom, according to her death certificate.Her family finally found out after a doctor signed that death certificate one year later on April 4, 2024.“That whole time that we thought that she was alive,” Angie said. “Why did it take you a year to let us know that she had passed away?”Dignity Health filed an answer in court last week to the lawsuit in Jessie’s case. They admit that “Congi was listed as Ms. Peterson’s next of kin on April 8, 2023, and that there had been ‘extensive previous contact between the hospital and’ Ms. Congi before Ms. Peterson’s death.”After Jessie’s death, Dignity Health states, “Mercy San Juan employees attempted to contact Ms. Congi multiple times…” They say their records show an employee made 10 calls to Congi’s phone number on record within 8 hours of Jessie’s death.However, Congi maintains that she did not get a phone call.Records show that after Jessie’s death, her body was kept at Cremations Only, another off-site storage facility used by Dignity Health.Cremations Only did not respond to KCRA 3 Investigates’ requests for comment.“Sent her off to a shelf some place in a freezer and didn’t have a care in the world about how it was going to affect any of us,” Ginger said.KCRA 3 Investigates found that at least two other Dignity Health hospital patients were kept at Cremations Only, according to their death certificates. One was a patient of Mercy Hospital of Folsom while another was a patient at Mercy General Hospital. And, again, they each show a delay from the time the person died to the time a doctor actually signed an official record of their death.That record is critical for families looking for loved ones.“I just feel the hospital’s negligent,” Valerie said.“I want to hold them accountable for what they’ve done,” Ginger said. The company has said that it cannot comment on pending litigation, but it did send KCRA 3 Investigates a statement in response to some of our questions about delayed death certificates and next-of-kin notifications.Dignity Health said in an email, “We understand how important it is to connect with patients and their families during difficult times, and we do make efforts to identify patients and contact family members when permitted. However, this can be challenging, especially when we do not have the necessary information. We are currently reviewing the circumstances where there may have been delays in completing death certificates. Our goal is to provide the best support possible for patients and their families.”Meanwhile, the two families said they are still left with many unanswered questions about how and why this happened.“All I did was think it’s because she was transient. It’s because she was an addict. They just discarded her,” Angie said. “That’s what I was left to think because nobody can explain to me what happened.”“Everybody’s life has value,” Tristan said. “We need to just remember that.”The two separate civil lawsuits are both still pending in Sacramento County Superior Court.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter
Two different families have filed lawsuits against the same Sacramento County hospital, claiming their loved ones died there but they were never notified.
No official public record of the Mercy San Juan Medical Center patients’ deaths could be found at the Sacramento Coroner’s Office until weeks and, in one case, even months after they occurred.
Meanwhile, families reported them missing and law enforcement spent time and resources trying to figure out what happened.
“Michael was a wonderful son,” said his mother, Valerie Gray.
Michael was 39 years old, the second oldest of four siblings.
Valerie said he struggled with mental health issues and sometimes bounced around, staying with friends for weeks at a time but he always kept in touch. That changed in July 2021.
“I called him day and night,” she said.
She never got a response. Weeks went by and even his 40th birthday passed with no word from him.
“More family members started getting together, and it was this long time nobody heard from him,” said Michael’s younger brother, Tristan Gray.
So, the family got the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office on the case.
Financial records helped a detective discover that Michael’s last transaction happened at a Rio Linda 7-Eleven on July 10, 2021.
An employee recognized his picture, saying Michael passed out in the parking lot and an ambulance arrived at the scene, according to a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office report that KCRA 3 Investigates obtained.
After more investigating, the detective said he determined the ambulance took Michael to Mercy San Juan, a Dignity Health hospital in Carmichael.
The detective called the hospital to find out more.
“Per their records, he had been treated and released,” the detective wrote in his report.
That did not tell the full story, though, because Michael never did walk out the doors of the hospital that day. And his mother, Valerie, said she did not learn what truly happened until August 13, 2021.
“It was Friday the 13th. It was a bad day,” Valerie said. “I got a call from the coroner telling me that my son had passed away.”
The family said they learned of Michael’s death one month after it happened.
“I didn’t know how to process it,” Tristan said. “I really loved my brother.”
A death certificate shows Michael died of a drug overdose at the San Juan Medical Center.
“I didn’t know why I wasn’t contacted,” Valerie said.
In a letter to Valerie months later, Dignity Health said “a chaplain attempted to notify next of kin and documented that they attempted to contact the previously listed emergency contact, Valerie Gray, twice with no response.”
Valerie said she did not receive a phone call.
Dignity Health also said it notified the Coroner’s Office “through the Sacramento County line on July 10, 2021, at 3:26 p.m., due to the county coroner was out of the office.”
However, the Coroner’s Office said it was not notified of Michael’s death until one month later, like Valerie.
In that time, the sheriff’s office investigation revealed the hospital sent Michael’s body to an off-site storage facility.
Dignity Health would not tell KCRA 3 Investigates why it uses off-site storage, but it is a practice that many hospitals around the country began during the COVID-19 pandemic as their own hospital morgues filled up.
“It just makes me so angry,” Valerie said. “It’s something that, you know, nobody should ever have to go through, you know, their loved one kept somewhere you don’t know.”
Two years after the case of Michael Gray came the case of Jessie Peterson.
“From the time that she was born, she was full of energy,” said her mother, Ginger Congi.
Jessie was a familiar face at San Juan Medical Center, Ginger said. She explained that her daughter had been a child patient there because she had type 1 diabetes.
She said, as an adult, Jessie was often in and out of that hospital as she struggled with drug addiction and had trouble keeping her diabetes under control.
So, that is where 31-year-old Jessie was on April 8, 2023, when she called Ginger and asked to go home.
“I told her I couldn’t go get her,” Ginger said. “Hospitals are supposed to be the right place for people to be cared for, and that was one of the last things that I said to her. ‘You need to stay put right where you’re at because you’re getting the best care that you need.’ And apparently, that didn’t happen.”
She never heard from Jessie again.
When she called the hospital a few days later, Ginger said an employee told her that Jessie left against medical advice.
So, the family started a search.
“I believe it was July 25 when we all finally decided to do the missing person’s report,” said Jessie’s sister, Angie Rubino.
Months went by as the family and law enforcement kept looking.
“I never gave up hope,” Ginger said.
Then, finally, the Sheriff’s Office called with an update.
“She’s been found deceased,” Angie said, repeating what she was told over the phone.
They had all been searching for someone who never left.
Jessie died at the hospital on April 8, 2023, less than two hours after her phone call with her mom, according to her death certificate.
Her family finally found out after a doctor signed that death certificate one year later on April 4, 2024.
“That whole time that we thought that she was alive,” Angie said. “Why did it take you a year to let us know that she had passed away?”
Dignity Health filed an answer in court last week to the lawsuit in Jessie’s case. They admit that “Congi was listed as Ms. Peterson’s next of kin on April 8, 2023, and that there had been ‘extensive previous contact between the hospital and’ Ms. Congi before Ms. Peterson’s death.”
After Jessie’s death, Dignity Health states, “Mercy San Juan employees attempted to contact Ms. Congi multiple times…” They say their records show an employee made 10 calls to Congi’s phone number on record within 8 hours of Jessie’s death.
However, Congi maintains that she did not get a phone call.
Records show that after Jessie’s death, her body was kept at Cremations Only, another off-site storage facility used by Dignity Health.
Cremations Only did not respond to KCRA 3 Investigates’ requests for comment.
“Sent her off to a shelf some place in a freezer and didn’t have a care in the world about how it was going to affect any of us,” Ginger said.
KCRA 3 Investigates found that at least two other Dignity Health hospital patients were kept at Cremations Only, according to their death certificates. One was a patient of Mercy Hospital of Folsom while another was a patient at Mercy General Hospital. And, again, they each show a delay from the time the person died to the time a doctor actually signed an official record of their death.
That record is critical for families looking for loved ones.
“I just feel the hospital’s negligent,” Valerie said.
“I want to hold them accountable for what they’ve done,” Ginger said.
The company has said that it cannot comment on pending litigation, but it did send KCRA 3 Investigates a statement in response to some of our questions about delayed death certificates and next-of-kin notifications.
Dignity Health said in an email, “We understand how important it is to connect with patients and their families during difficult times, and we do make efforts to identify patients and contact family members when permitted. However, this can be challenging, especially when we do not have the necessary information. We are currently reviewing the circumstances where there may have been delays in completing death certificates. Our goal is to provide the best support possible for patients and their families.”
Meanwhile, the two families said they are still left with many unanswered questions about how and why this happened.
“All I did was think it’s because she was transient. It’s because she was an addict. They just discarded her,” Angie said. “That’s what I was left to think because nobody can explain to me what happened.”
“Everybody’s life has value,” Tristan said. “We need to just remember that.”
The two separate civil lawsuits are both still pending in Sacramento County Superior Court.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter
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