After suffering a cardiac arrest on July 26, 2010, Maria de Jesus Arroyo was mistakenly declared dead at her home in Boyle Heights, LA, California. She was then taken to White Memorial Medical Center, where medical staff confirmed her death. Subsequently, Maria was placed in a refrigerated hospital morgue. However, days later, mortuary workers discovered her alive in the morgue freezer, with injuries sustained from her struggle to escape the body bag.
The family of the 80-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against the hospital, alleging that Maria had been placed in the morgue freezer while still alive, leading to her death from extreme cold exposure. A pathologist hired by the family concluded that Maria was alive when placed in the freezer and had tried to escape, resulting in her injuries.
Despite the hospital’s denial of any wrongdoing and insistence on following proper procedures, the family pursued legal action. Initially dismissed on statute-of-limitations grounds, the case was reinstated by California’s Second District Court of Appeal, which acknowledged the family’s lack of suspicion regarding Maria’s condition at the time of her placement in the morgue.
Attorney Scott Schutzman, representing the Arroyo family, described the situation as a “nightmare,” highlighting the family’s distress over Maria’s ordeal. The Mirror has reached out to White Memorial Medical Center for comment on the matter.
