Seattle couple sues Salem Health after being pressured to drive baby’s body home

A Seattle couple is suing after hospital staff in Oregon told them to drive the body of their nearly 9-month-old son four hours home in their private car following his sudden death in an emergency room.

Aleksandr and Nataliya Yeremeyev filed a $10 million lawsuit against Salem Health and Dr. Stefani Sorensen. The parents had allegedly sought respectful and dignified care and transportation of the remains of their son, Michael, but the lawsuit alleges staff insisted they bring the body back home with them.

Michael was born with Down syndrome and spent the first six months of his life at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

“His parents had made sure that he had received really excellent care. So, I think it was a really, really sad and just very tragic way for his life to end and for it to be so undignified right there at the end,” Anna Bruckenhoefer, the family’s attorney, said in a statement, according to Fox 13.

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On September 22, 2024, the family was visiting Salem, Oregon, for a religious retreat when Michael developed rapid, shallow breathing late at night and was rushed to the emergency room at Salem Health Hospital, where he died, according to the complaint.

When the parents asked how to arrange respectful transport to send Michael’s body back home to Seattle, hospital staff allegedly pushed back on the suggestion to contact a local funeral home because it would be “too expensive” and instead pressured the family to bring their son’s body corpse with them in their own personal car, which they ended up doing due to feeling like they had no other option.

“They have repeatedly asked the hospital for assistance in helping them with what are the next steps,” Bruckenhoefer said. “This was all occurring overnight. They felt rushed that they had to make quick decisions and the hospital left them with no choice other than to take Michael’s body with them and head back to Seattle.”

Aleksandr drove about four hours from Salem to Seattle with his son’s body laid across the backseat, while his wife and other children followed in a separate car.

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He suffered severe emotional distress as he feared police stops, car crashes and the visible deterioration of his child’s body, according to the lawsuit. When he arrived at a Seattle funeral home, the father had to clean bodily fluids that leaked onto the seat during the trip.

“It is legal in the state of Oregon and in the state of Washington to transport a deceased with the proper permits. But that is not what our clients wanted to do here. They were looking for help. They were looking for guidance. They were looking for the hospital to tell them, “These are the next steps,'” Bruckenhoefer said. “This is a hospital. It’s an emergency department. Unfortunately, death is something that they are accustomed to and that they deal with. They should have had procedures and protocols in place to assist the Yeremeyev’s while they were dealing with literally the worst moment of their lives. Instead, what they did is they just compounded their grief by essentially telling them that they were on their own in this.”

“No parents, no loved ones should ever be placed in the position that the Yeremeyev’s were placed in,” Bruckenhoefer added. “Just completely surprised that something like this would happen in 2026.”

The lawsuit names Salem Health Hospitals & Clinics, Salem Health, Salem Emergency Physicians Service and Sorensen as defendants, alleging direct negligence, vicarious liability, and a breach of the heightened duty of care owed to bereaved parents for the respectful treatment and custody of a child’s body.

The family is seeking $10 million in non-economic damages for severe emotional distress and psychological trauma, although they plan to amend the complaint to include punitive damages.

Salem Health Hospital said out of respect for privacy and because the matter is in litigation, it is unable to discuss the details of the child’s care.

“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,” Salem Health told Fox 13 in a statement.

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“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,” the statement continued.