The family of a mentally-ill woman who was found dead and dismembered at a construction site after a hospital allegedly "lost" her is suing San Francisco for wrongful death, NBC Bay Area has learned.
The lawsuit concerns the death of Haneefah Nurridin, 36, who disappeared on April 30 after being admitted to San Francisco General Hospital on a psychiatric hold. She was supposed to be transferring units within the hospital when staffers lost track of her, according to court documents filed Thursday by the law office of John Burris, who is representing her family.
The next morning, on May 1, Nurridin's body was found under scaffold at the site of a future apartment complex in the city’s lower Pacific Heights neighborhood. Her arm was detached and she sustained severe injuries to her face and skull, court documents state.
"It is unclear whether Ms. Nuriddin was subsequently located by San Francisco General Hospital staff and untimely discharged, while gravely disabled and clearly unable to care for herself, or if she was never located and wandered off to her unspeakable death while under the care, custody and control of San Francisco General Hospital," court documents state.
The hospital and the office of the mayor did not immediately return requests for comment.
The suit goes on to allege that the city failed to provide San Francisco General Hospital with adequate resources to care and look after the mentally ill.
Nuriddin’s father, Benjamin, is seeking a jury trial and punitive damages, plus recovery of the cost of the lawsuit. The suit goes on to allege that the city failed to provide San Francisco General Hospital with adequate resources to care and look after the mentally ill.
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His lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment.
"Ms. Nuriddin leaves behind a grieving father and family, who are haunted by the knowledge of her horrific and untimely death," her father's attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.
