A fourth lawsuit filed against California’s Dignity Health for allegedly not notifying families of patient deaths contains a new claim — that its contracted storage facility failed to maintain appropriate temperatures, leaving unembalmed bodies to decompose for months or even years.
The latest lawsuit focuses on Charles Wesley Harvey, who died June 2, 2022 at Dignity’s Mercy San Juan Medical Center, a 384-bed hospital in Sacramento that has been roundly criticized for not notifying families after patients died.
Harvey was transported to Mortuary Support Services of Northern California (MSSNC) and “sat decomposing in improper storage for years,” the lawsuit said, “like dozens of others before him and potentially hundreds after him.”…