Woman says hospital lost her missing daughter’s body for a year

A woman in California said her daughter died at Mercy San Juan Medical Center and the hospital lost her body for more than a year.

In a negligence lawsuit, Ginger Congi claimed her adult daughter, Jessie Peterson, suffered from Type I diabetes and was being treated at Mercy San Juan in April 2023. She was admitted to the hospital, where her mother would last see her alive.

After a few days of silence, Congi called Mercy San Juan only to be told her daughter had been discharged. The hospital had no other information as to Peterson’s whereabouts.

In a panic, Congi began looking for her daughter, filing a missing persons report with the police and putting up flyers all over town. Unfortunately, Peterson was never found—until her body was found in April 2024, a year from the time she went missing, in cold storage at Mercy San Juan.

A death certificate for Peterson was never properly filed, Congi and her attorney alleged. They are seeking damages.

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Chad Van Alstin Health Imaging Health Exec

Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.

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