The Brief
- A King County couple filed a $10 million lawsuit against Salem Health and an emergency physician after staff allegedly instructed them to transport their deceased eight-month-old son’s body in the backseat of their personal car during a four-hour drive to Seattle.
- The complaint alleges hospital staff discouraged contacting a funeral home, claimed they lacked paper to print required transport forms, and failed to offer temporary morgue storage, forcing the family to rely on a handwritten prescription note.
- Salem Health expressed condolences but stated it acted in accordance with the family’s wishes, hospital policy, and Oregon state law in consultation with local authorities.
SALEM, Ore. – A Washington couple has filed a $10 million lawsuit against Salem Health and an emergency physician after hospital staff allegedly instructed them to transport their deceased eight-month-old son in the backseat of their personal car following his sudden death in an emergency room.
The complaint was filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court by Aleksandr and Nataliya Yeremeyev, who live in King County. Their son, Michael, was born with Down syndrome and spent the first six months of his life at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
“His parents had made sure that he had received really excellent care. So, I think it was a really, really sad and just very tragic way for his life to end and for it to be so undignified right there at the end,” said Anna Bruckenhoefer, Yeremeyev’s family’s attorney.…