San Francisco-based Dignity Health is facing a class-action lawsuit over claims that it improperly stored remains of deceased patients at an off-site morgue and routinely failed to notify next of kin in a timely manner after patients died.
The complaint, filed Jan. 9 in the Superior Court of California for the County of Sacramento, centers on a patient who died at the system’s Mercy San Juan Medical Center in 2022. The family alleges they were not informed until more than three years later, during which time the patient’s remains were held in an off-site morgue.
The lawsuit alleges that Dignity Health and its parent organization, Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health, failed to issue timely death certificates, notify families and obtain legally required storage permits over a period spanning from at least early 2022 through 2025. During this time, plaintiffs claim the remains of hundreds of deceased patients were improperly held — some for more than three years — at a contracted facility operated by Mortuary Support Services of Northern California.
The proposed class includes relatives and legal representatives of those patients, though an exact number was not specified in the complaint.
“Consistent with patient privacy laws and hospital policy, we do not discuss the specifics of patient care or litigation,” Mercy San Juan Medical Center said in a Jan. 27 statement to Becker’s.
The plaintiffs are seeking financial compensation, including punitive damages, alleging the mishandling of remains was part of a broader pattern that continued despite prior regulatory warnings. They are requesting a jury trial.
CMS has previously cited Mercy San Juan Medical Center for failing to issue timely death certificates and make sufficient attempts to notify next of kin. In October 2024, investigators found 61 bodies stored in the hospital’s off-site morgue, some of which dated to 2022. At the time, the hospital submitted plans of correction in response to citations, which were accepted by regulators.
Mercy San Juan Medical Center is also facing other lawsuits with similar allegations.
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