Dignity Delayed: Family notified over 3 years after patient died at hospital, remains kept in storage
By Lysée Mitri
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SACRAMENTO COUNTY, California (KCRA) — More than one year into KCRA 3’s investigation of a backlog of human remains tied to patient deaths at Dignity Health hospitals in the greater Sacramento area, a family is saying that they were just recently notified about a loved one who died 3 1/2 years ago.
“This isn’t something Hollywood could come up with. We are living a daily nightmare,” Nancy Louks said.
She said it was Dec. 1, 2025, when she learned that her brother, Charles Harvey, had died at Mercy San Juan Medical Center back on June 2, 2022.
After getting the news, her daughter started searching for the hospital online.
“Your stories started popping up. All kinds of information,” Louks said. “Devastation almost is not even a strong enough word.”
Harvey is one of dozens of patients over the last four years or so who have died at Dignity Health hospitals, like Mercy San Juan Medical Center, and whose remains were then stored at an off-site morgue without a death certificate for months or even years.
In at least four cases that KCRA 3 Investigates has identified, law enforcement had missing persons investigations open as families searched for their loved ones.
“What happened to these families is unacceptable. We know they were not given timely notification about the death of their loved ones,” Dr. Erica Pan, Director of the California Department of Public Health, said in an emailed statement.
However, Pan also said, “We remain committed to holding facilities accountable when they fail to meet established standards. As evidence of us upholding this commitment, after implementing additional monitoring at the facilities mentioned in your coverage, we can share there have been no additional or ongoing concerns regarding the storage of human remains.”
That statement was made within one week of Charles Harvey’s family reaching out to KCRA 3 Investigates with ongoing concerns.
“The state of California failed us as a family. That hospital failed us,” said Charles Harvey’s son, Jacob.
Harvey died at 67 years old. He was a U.S. Navy veteran, awarded the National Defense Service Medal for his time in the Vietnam War.
“He’s my big brother. I looked up to him,” Louks said.
She said they both lived in California for a long time, but she moved away to Arizona a few years ago.
“I had only moved one year before he passed away,” Louks said.
Harvey’s son, Jacob, lives in Indiana. Louks had to break the news to him.
“I had to make that heartbreaking call,” Louks said. “It was really hard. How do you tell somebody that? Your dad died, and it’s been three years, and he’s just sitting in a warehouse.”
“I never dreamed that I would ever be having this conversation. It just doesn’t seem real,” Jacob Harvey said.
He said his dad was a very private man.
“He was always private. He’s been like that his entire life. So, sometimes he’ll just disappear off the grid, you know, and then pop back up a couple of months later,” Jacob said.
When Jacob’s son did not get a birthday card in the mail from his dad in May of 2022, Jacob said he tried reaching out.
“I couldn’t get a hold of anybody, like he’s had 10 different phone numbers, but I’ve always had his email,” Jacob said. “I’ve always emailed him, and I never got anything back. And now I know why.”
After Harvey’s death at the hospital, he had been left without a death certificate for so long that Dignity Health actually had to go to court to ask for a delayed death registration and to explain the holdup.
“There’s no dignity in this. I don’t even know how they can use that name,” Jacob said.
Harvey’s case was one of at least two dozen that Dignity Health filed in probate court in 2024 and 2025. Each time, Dignity blamed the delay on what began back in 2020: the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic created a backlog…” and then, they said, “staffing issues arose” in order to address that backlog.
“Inexcusable,” Louks said, shaking her head.
A probate court ordered the creation of a delayed registration of Harvey’s death on September 6, 2024, but then Dignity Health went back to court to get an amended order in July 2025 to include details that were missing from its original application.
Harvey’s court order delayed registration of death ultimately shows it was not accepted for registration by CDPH Vital Records until August 12, 2025, one year after Dignity Health initially went to court to begin the process.
For weeks, Harvey’s family had trouble even tracking down the official records of his death.
Only after they did could they retrieve his remains from the off-site morgue where he had been kept without their knowledge for years.
“Our family was robbed the opportunities to properly grieve, to give him a decent Christian burial,” Louks said.
Dignity Health is fighting two lawsuits over allegations of failing to notify families and complete death certificates in a timely manner after patient deaths. Harvey’s family has now hired an attorney as well.
In a statement to KCRA 3 Investigates, Dignity Health said, “Our goal is to provide the best care and support possible for patients and their families. Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on pending litigation.”
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