Patient Who Died Unexpectedly At San Francisco General Identified
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- A 33-year-old hospital patient whose unexpected death last week is being investigated by officials at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital has been identified as Laverne Criner, according to the city's medical examiner's office.
Criner died at the hospital around 6:20 a.m. on June 4.
Little information about the circumstances surrounding Criner's death has been released.
Last week, the medical examiner's office completed an autopsy on Criner and preliminary findings ruled out the possibility of a homicide. The cause of her death is pending additional studies and a report will be completed in the coming weeks, officials with the city's Department of Public Health said.
Criner was the second person to be found dead on the hospital's campus within a span of five days.
On May 31, an employee discovered the body of Ruby Andersen, 75, in the stairway of a power plant facility on the hospital's campus around 1 p.m.
Andersen, a San Francisco resident, was not a patient at the hospital, although she was reported missing from the hospital on May 20.
The medical examiner's office has also ruled out homicide in Andersen's case and is continuing to determine exactly how she died.
The California Department of Public Health, which licenses the hospital, is conducting an investigation into the power plant building where Andersen was found dead.
The California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division, which licenses a residential care facility for the elderly and the adult residential facility located at the Behavioral Health
Center on the hospital's campus, is also conducting an investigation.
Additionally, the city's health department and the sheriff's department, which provide security for the hospital, are conducting their own investigations.
Sheriff's officials have said that the power plant facility was not regularly patrolled by deputies and was left open for most of the day. They've said that since the incident, they have put in place new security measures, including badge-only access 24 hours a day and the installation of additional alarm and camera systems at the power plant building.
In 2013, Lynne Spalding, 57, was found dead in a hospital stairwell after she had been reported missing the previous month.
Spalding, a British woman, went missing after being admitted to the hospital only two days earlier.
A subsequent report by the medical examiner's office found that Spalding had been dead for some days before being discovered. Her death was ruled accidental, due to an electrolyte imbalance, a condition that can be caused by dehydration.
Several new security protocols were put in place by hospital staff and deputies in the wake of her death. Additionally, the city settled a lawsuit with her family for nearly $3 million.
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