A grandmother believed to be dead was mistakenly placed in a sealed body bag and stored in a freezer, only to be discovered alive later on. Maria de Jesus Arroyo suffered a cardiac arrest at her home in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, on July 26, 2010. She was taken to White Memorial Medical Center, where medical professionals initially pronounced her deceased. Subsequently, her body was moved to a refrigerated morgue within the hospital. However, when mortuary staff retrieved her days later, they found her in a disturbing condition – face-down in a partially unzipped bag with facial injuries.
The family has filed a lawsuit against the hospital, claiming that the 80-year-old woman was mistakenly placed in a morgue freezer while still alive, leading to her eventual death from extreme cold exposure. The error was only realized when morticians were preparing her for the funeral and found her in the inappropriate position.
An independent pathologist hired by the family, Dr. William Manion, concluded that Maria had been alive when placed in the freezer. He determined that she sustained her injuries while trying to escape the body bag after regaining consciousness in the cold environment. According to court records, the pathologist described the woman as having been “frozen alive,” waking up, and struggling unsuccessfully to free herself from her frozen confinement.
The family originally filed a negligence claim in January 2011, followed by a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit after receiving Dr. Manion’s report in 2012. Although a lower court initially dismissed the case due to statute-of-limitations reasons, the California Second District Court of Appeal reinstated the lawsuit, stating that the family had no reason to suspect Maria was alive before being placed in the morgue.
White Memorial Medical Center has consistently denied any wrongdoing, asserting that they followed proper protocols. The hospital remains confident that they will prevail in court once the case facts are reviewed. Attorney Scott Schutzman, representing the Arroyo family, described the situation as a “nightmare,” emphasizing the difficulty of trying to escape from a zippered bag.
The Mirror has reached out to White Memorial Medical Center for their response to the incident.
