An 80-year-old woman from Los Angeles County was pronounced dead in July of 2010 at White Memorial Medical Center in Boyle Heights. The woman had suffered a heart attack, and the doctors declared that she had breathed her last after the cardiac arrest. When the woman arrived at the morticians' office, they discovered that her body was face down in its case and her nose was broken. The corpse also had cuts and bruises to the face.

According to research, the hospital mistakenly declared the woman dead, and then froze her in the hospital morgue while she was still living. The woman tried to escape from the morgue but was injured in the process, and passed away shortly thereafter because of the frigid temperatures in the room. Originally, a trial judge threw out a lawsuit filed by the victim's family declaring medical malpractice. The family says that the hospital misdiagnosed their loved one's death, and she could have been saved. The trial judge said that the lawsuit was filed too late, because it was beyond the one year statute of limitations after the family had discovered the situation.

A 2^nd District Court of Appeal overturned this ruling on Wednesday, saying that the family has the right to seek compensation from the hospital for the death of their loved one. This is because the district court argues that the family did not know their relative was frozen alive until a pathologist gave his expert opinion on the case in December of 2011.

The hospital has not addressed allegations that the woman was prematurely declared dead, but a pathologist believes that she was placed into her tomb alive where she eventually woke up after heart attack. When she awoke, the pathologist believes that she attempted to escape from the frozen tomb and damaged her face as she tried to get out. The pathologist also believes that the woman turned herself face down in an attempt to get out of the casket, which is why she arrived at the morgue that way.

The tragic death of this elderly woman will return to the Los Angeles Superior Court for further proceedings. The family says that they will be suing White Memorial for gross negligence and medical malpractice in the misdiagnosis of their loved one's condition. If you want to file a lawsuit for misdiagnosis against a doctor or hospital, don't hesitate to get a local medical malpractice attorney on your side. With the right attorney there to help you, you may be able to secure a satisfactory settlement to accommodate for your loss or for the injuries and medical bills that you accumulated. Use this directory today to find a trusted medical malpractice lawyer near you.