A 36-year-old woman whose body was discovered with a dismembered arm and severe head injuries was discovered at the construction site of an apartment building in San Francisco's Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood on May 1, 2015. Little was reported on the circumstances of her death at the time, but a federal lawsuit filed today says hospital staff at San Francisco General Hospital reported her missing about 12 hours before she was found dead, according to an SF Bay report.
The woman, Haneefah Nuriddin, had a long history of mental illness and had been treated at SFGH — which has since been renamed Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital — multiple times before her death, according to the lawsuit, which was filed July 6 on behalf of her father, according to the report.
Before Ms. Nuriddin was reported missing, she was hospitalized on an involuntary psychiatric hold. Hospital staff reported her missing to San Francisco police at 7:13 p.m. on April 30, 2015. SFGH workers told Ms. Nuriddin's father, Benjamin Nuriddin, that his daughter was "lost" when she was transported from the hospital's main psychiatric facility to another facility for an appointment, according to the lawsuit.
Ms. Nuriddin's body was discovered the next morning with a missing arm and severe injuries to her face and skull under the scaffold of a 67-unit condominium tower that was under construction, according to the report.
Hospital spokesperson Brent Andrew said he couldn't answer questions regarding Ms. Nuriddin's case because of privacy laws, and he also couldn't comment on pending litigation, according to the report.
Mr. Nuriddin's lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for negligence in not providing his daughter proper medical or custodial care, leading to her death, as well as other allegations, according the report.
SFGH and the San Francisco Sheriff's Department came under fire in 2013 when the body of Lynne Spalding, a patient who was admitted to the hospital for an infection, was found in a rarely-used exterior stairwell two weeks after she was reported missing. In March 2014, her family filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming Ms. Spalding's death was the result of "reckless neglect of her care, professional negligence by her healthcare providers; negligence; and the creation and maintenance of a dangerous condition of public property." Ms. Spalding's family entered a $2.9 million settlement with the City of San Francisco in December 2014.