Posted on 09/25/2026 11:09:31 PM PDT by Morgana
A couple is suing an Oregon hospital for $10 million after they were allegedly forced to drive home with the body of their dead infant son.
Aleksandr and Nataliya Yeremeyev are accusing Salem Health Hospitals and Clinics of negligence after their infant son, Michael, died in the emergency department in September 2024. Hospital staff then allegedly instructed the Yeremeyevs to drive their son’s body home to Seattle in their personal vehicle.
“Michael Yeremeyev died in Salem Hospital’s emergency room after falling ill during his first family trip, at less than nine months old,” the family’s attorneys said in a statement. “At the moment when his parents, Aleksandr and Nataliya, most needed support, guidance, and assistance in navigating this tragic situation, they got none.”
The Yeremeyevs had traveled to Salem, Oregon, with their 6-month-old son, Michael, for a Christian retreat when his breathing suddenly became shallow and rapid, according to the complaint. Michael was born with Down syndrome and had other significant medical conditions. Aleksandr Yeremeyev took Michael to the emergency department at Salem Hospital. Despite lifesaving efforts by medical staff, Michael died hours later.
After the child passed away, the parents said hospital staff asked them to stay away from his body while they waited for a medical examiner. Eventually, hospital staff told the couple that a medical examiner would not be coming, according to the complaint.
When the parents asked about arrangements for their child’s body and how to arrange for a local funeral home to transport him in a manner that aligned with their religious beliefs and practices, staff allegedly told them it would be too expensive and instructed them to drive the child’s body home in their own car.
Staff also allegedly said they couldn’t print the necessary paperwork for the child’s death because they did not have the correct paper or form. A doctor provided them with a handwritten note stating the child had died at the hospital. When the parents asked how they were to transport the child’s body and expressed concern about his body becoming stiff during the four-hour drive, hospital staff allegedly said they should lay his body flat in the backseat.
The couple then carried their dead child, whose face had turned blue, out of the emergency department and into their car. They laid him in the backseat, as they said they were told to do, and drove home to Seattle, the lawsuit says.
“No grieving family should ever be placed in that position,” their lawyers said. “Salem Health categorically failed this family at the worst moment of their lives, and we intend to hold them accountable.”
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Salem Health said the company was unable to discuss pending litigation but that their deepest condolences are with the Yeremeyev family.
“Salem Hospital responded in accordance with the family’s wishes and followed both hospital policy and Oregon state law in consultation with the appropriate local authorities, including the medical examiner,” the spokesperson said. “Care with respect is a guiding principle of clinical practice at Salem Hospital and remains central to how we support patients and families during some of life’s most difficult moments. We recognize the profound grief families experience following the loss of a loved one and treat every patient and family with empathy, dignity, and respect.”
You’re right, it’s not easy finding a babysitter sometimes. It has been a long time since my wife and I needed one. I stand corrected,
AI is not acceptable. It picks and choses.
Thanks, I have quite a bit of information. Elizabeth was born in 1801, Catherine 1800, Lydia 1802, all dying in 1803. I got the historical record out and read it again. Jacob my revolutionary ancestor”was a small man, and his wife weighing nearly 300 Lbs”. The casket had to be bound with iron hoops. It also said “Jacob shot the last bear in Columbiana county, one half mile or so east of Columbiana”, PA.
The hardships of families in those years was so sad.
The question is acceptable for what.
AI is very spotty. It gets “confused” furnishes misinformation blithely invents, uses a broad brush until re-queried.
OTOH AI is very useful in organizing large datasets which then need to be checked and verified by a human. It uncovers data that is squirreled away, not uncovered by regular searches. That is how I used it in this case, to supplement. It added the infants age but no other facts about the death. At that point IMO no more data will be available to my searches.
Just this weekend I loaded a grouping of >100 perennials by a list of name and number of each variety, into AI. Gave it the sun exposure and shape of the bed. AI returned a detailed planting layout with 3 depth layers based on heights, groupings by complementary colors, leaf texture, size, bloom season, etc, all information AI pulled from the web. Iy made suggestions of planting tips etc.
I have the experience & ability to make such a plan but to have it in 1 minute rather than 6-8 hrs was amazing. AI needed some nudging, it forgot the hellebore, but when queried it quickly acknowledged the omission and a revised plan emerged.
I actually don’t see the big deal here. Why would any sort of special transportation be needed? A body in a bag traveling in a car is a lot cheaper that the same in an ambulance or other special form of conveyance. A family would handle the body with a lot more reverence than employees in a meat wagon.
And we could just toss all our dead bodies in the river. That would be cheaper yet.
You miss the point. Hospitals are not in the cadaver transportation service. The family needed to engage a mortuary if they couldn’t do it themsleves.
Did they put the baby in a bag for the parents?
Get a grip. Hospitals do not transport bodies. It is not their function.
I wonder what would have happened if they had been pulled over for speeding?
“Yes officer, that is our dead baby, here is the paperwork” as he hands him the doctor’s scribbles.
My BIL passed away in our home after months of my wife caring for him. He passed away on the commode next to his bed. She wanted to try to get him back in bed after he passed but I said lets just let the medics do that, and it was a struggle for them.
The police came as well, talked to my wife about medications he was taking (including morphine - it was his last days) and looked at her notes regarding doses and time of day taken.
I don’t recall a medical examiner at the house.
The funeral home (already arranged for) sent two people out and they were there within an hour or two of the police leaving to place him in a body bag and a nicer outer cover and then wheeled him out to their vehicle.
I have no idea how much that cost as that was all taken care of by my wife. I’m sure it wasn’t cheap but I can’t imagine any other alternative. I doubt it would have been legal to cremate him in the firepit in the backyard even if we had wanted to.
The funeral home gave us an official form for the cremation, and along with the death certificate my wife made me keep with the urn the entire time as we traveled by car across the country to his final resting place.
I bet it was one of those red bio hazard bags. Nice.
Given a choice I think I'd ask for the yellow radiation hazard one.
Actually, I bought those red medical waste bags online to fill them with chicken offal and leave them in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic but I chickened out.
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