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US hospital told family their daughter had checked out when in fact she'd died

Family of Jessie Peterson, 31, spent a year searching for her before learning hospital had shipped body to storage facility

After her sudden disappearance, the family spent months “relentlessly” searching for her, posting flyers, speaking with unhoused residents in the area, and contacting police and the coroner’s office, according to the lawsuit. Mercy San Juan was not responsive to efforts to contact them, according to the lawsuit, and a mortuary eventually informed Congi that Peterson’s body had been found in one of the hospital’s off-site storage facilities. Her body was so decomposed the family could not obtain her fingerprints or hold an open casket funeral, and an autopsy that could have indicated whether there had been medical malpractice associated with her death was “rendered impossible”, according to the lawsuit.

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