In a shocking incident, a grandmother was mistakenly declared dead and placed in a body bag in a freezer, only to be found alive later.
Maria de Jesus Arroyo suffered a cardiac arrest at her residence in Boyle Heights, LA, California, on July 26, 2010. She was taken to the White Memorial Medical Center, where medical professionals initially pronounced her dead. However, it was revealed that she was alive when her body was stored in the hospital morgue and later found with injuries when retrieved days later.
The family of the 80-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against the hospital, claiming that she had been placed in a morgue freezer while still breathing and ultimately succumbed to the extreme cold.
The error came to light when morticians discovered her in the half-unzipped body bag, prompting a pathologist, Dr. William Manion, to conclude that she had been mistakenly placed in the freezer while alive and had tried to escape after regaining consciousness in the cold environment, leading to her injuries.
According to court documents, the pathologist stated that the woman had been “frozen alive,” awakened eventually, and struggled to free herself, resulting in facial injuries and her positioning face down in the bag.
Following the pathologist’s report, the family escalated their legal action against the hospital, initially filing a negligence claim in 2011 and later adding wrongful death and medical malpractice allegations in 2012. Despite an initial dismissal by a lower court, the California Second District Court of Appeal reinstated the lawsuit, stating that the family had no reason to suspect the grandmother was alive when placed in the morgue.
White Memorial Medical Center has maintained its innocence, asserting that it followed correct procedures and expressing confidence in a favorable outcome once the case details are reviewed.
The family’s attorney, Scott Schutzman, referred to the incident as a “nightmare scenario,” emphasizing the horrifying experience of trying to escape from a zipped bag.
White Memorial Medical Center is yet to respond to requests for comments from the Mirror.
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