man says wife froze to death in morque (mortuary)

A California man is suing
the doctor who declared
his wife dead, claiming
she was alive in the
morgue and struggling to
escape as she froze to
death.
Guadalupe Arroyo initially thought the
lifeless body of his wife, Maria, had been
banged up by staff at White Memorial
Medical Center in Los Angeles. Morticians
found the body face-down in the metal
morgue compartment with bruises and
cuts so severe that no amount of makeup
could mask them, according to court
documents.
The 80-year-old mother of eight, who was
declared dead from cardiac arrest, also
had a broken nose.
Arroyo and his children sued the hospital
for negligence, claiming staff
“mishandled” his wife’s remains. But a
medical expert called to testify in the case
had a different theory, according to court
documents: Maria Arroyo had been
“prematurely declared dead” and “frozen
alive” in the hospital’s freezer. She
“eventually woke up” due to the extreme
cold and “damaged her face and turned
herself face down as she struggled
unsuccessfully to escape her frozen
tomb,” the expert said
Now, Arroyo is suing Dr. John Plosay and
White Memorial Medical Center medical
for negligence and the wrongful death of
his wife in July 2010. The hospital has
moved to dismiss the lawsuit, which was
filed in May 2012, on the grounds that the
one-year statute of limitations had
expired. But an appeals court ruled
Wednesday that the suit could move
forward because the medical expert’s
“frozen alive” theory didn’t emerge until
December 2011.
A spokeswoman for White Memorial
Medical Center said it was hospital policy
“not to comment on pending litigation or
to provide details about any of our
patients out of respect for their privacy
and that of their families.”
“However, we wish to note that we
continue to disagree with the allegations
being made,” spokeswoman Alicia
Gonzalez told ABCNews.com in a
statement. “We followed all proper
protocals [sic] in this matter and are
confident that once the facts of the case
are reviewed we will prevail in court.”
Ryan Deane, an attorney representing
Plosay, echoed the hospital’s statement
that his client had followed protocol.
“We do not believe that the plaintiffs can
competently and credibly explain away
the medical realities of this unfortunate
case, including that [Maria Arroyo]
suffered a cardiac event and received
resuscitative measures that were
ultimately unsuccessful, [she] was
pronounced dead after both clinical
evidence and diagnostic evidence
confirmed she had in fact died and [she]
laid motionless for several hours in the
hospital (with family present for part of
that time) without exhibiting any signs of
life before being transported to the
morgue,” Deane said in a statement to
ABCNews.com. “We are confident that the
evidence will establish that the treating
doctor at all times acted appropriately
and in keeping with the standard of care
for an emergency room physician.”
Earlier this year, a Mississippi man woke
up in a body bag as funeral home
workers prepared to embalm him. The
man died two weeks later.