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.”
What Happened
The Yeremeyevs had traveled to Salem, Oregon, with their 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.
The Allegations
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 Hospital’s Response
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.”
The Bottom Line
An Oregon couple is suing Salem Health for $10 million after they were allegedly forced to drive their dead infant son’s body home to Seattle. The couple says hospital staff told them a medical examiner would not come, that arranging a funeral home was too expensive, and that they should lay the body flat in the backseat. The hospital says it followed policy and state law. The case is pending.
My Opinion
There is no version of this story where the hospital looks good. Even if everything Salem Health did was technically legal — even if the medical examiner truly was unavailable, even if the paperwork truly could not be printed, even if Oregon law truly allowed a family to transport a body themselves — none of that explains why a grieving mother and father were told to lay their dead infant in the backseat of their car and drive four hours home.
Grief is not a bureaucratic problem. It is a human one. The role of a hospital in the worst moment of a family’s life is not to hand them a handwritten note and send them on their way. It is to provide comfort, guidance, and dignity. The Yeremeyevs asked for help arranging a funeral home that aligned with their religious beliefs. They were told it would be too expensive. That is a failure of basic compassion.
The hospital says it followed policy and state law. Perhaps it did. But policies can be wrong. Laws can be inadequate. And institutions can hide behind both while a family drives home with their child’s body in the backseat. This lawsuit will determine whether Salem Health is legally liable.
