A grandmother who was mistakenly believed to have died was placed in a sealed body bag and stored in a freezer, only to be discovered alive later on. Maria de Jesus Arroyo collapsed at her residence in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California, following a heart attack on July 26, 2010. She was taken to the White Memorial Medical Center, where medical professionals declared her deceased. It was revealed in legal documents that Maria was mistakenly placed in a refrigerated morgue at the hospital. When mortuary personnel retrieved her days later, they found her in a distressed state with injuries.
The family of the 80-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against the hospital, alleging that she had been placed in a morgue freezer while still alive, ultimately succumbing to the extreme cold. The error was only discovered when morticians were preparing her body for the funeral and found her in a troubling position inside the body bag.
A pathologist hired by the family, Dr. William Manion, determined that Maria had been alive when placed in the freezer and had sustained injuries while attempting to escape the cold environment after waking up. Court records detailed the pathologist’s findings that Maria had been mistakenly frozen alive, causing her to injure herself in a futile attempt to escape.
The family initially filed a negligence claim in January 2011, followed by a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit after receiving Dr. Manion’s report in 2012. While a lower court dismissed the case citing statute-of-limitations grounds, the California Second District Court of Appeal reinstated the lawsuit, acknowledging that the family had no reason to suspect Maria was alive when she was placed in the morgue.
The hospital has consistently denied any wrongdoing, asserting that they followed proper procedures. Despite the allegations, White Memorial Medical Center remains confident in their actions and looks forward to a favorable outcome in court. Attorney Scott Schutzman, who represented the Arroyo family, described the situation as a nightmarish scenario, emphasizing the difficulty of trying to escape from a zippered bag.
The Mirror has reached out to White Memorial Medical Center for their input on the matter.