A Bay Area family is speaking out after they said they got a call from a San Francisco hospital, and they told them their loved one was dead. But they later discovered it was an error.
Last Monday, the Brown family of Brentwood were all celebrating Janet Brown’s retirement from a Bay Area hospital after more than three decades of service.
“I was really excited about everything. The whole day was going well, and then, that news,” she said.
The news came early Tuesday morning. Vannest Brown said he received a call from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. He said he put on his phone on speaker as soon as a woman on the line said she had news about their 30-year-old son.
“She said, ‘I’m sorry to inform you that your son has been shot and has passed away,’” he said.
Vannest then called his sister Ashanti, who came over and then, they called their daughter Chantell to tell her what had happened.
Vannest said he was prepared to head to San Francisco. But before he left, he called the hospital back after something in his heart told him this had to be wrong.
“I said, ‘You never gave me a description. Can you give me a description?’ And she said, ‘Yes, he has dreadlocks.’ I said ‘Stop!’” he said.
After more than an hour in agonizing emotional pain, the Brown family was just beginning to learn the man who came into Zuckerberg SF General that night was not their loved one at all. It was another young man who was four inches taller and weighed 50 pounds more.
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Two hours later, they confirmed it was not their son.
“And I just shook her and said, 'It’s not him,' because I was already holding her. Because I had been consoling her,” Ashanti Brown said.
"I just got up and just started running around the house," Janet Brown said.
But the family still was worried. They asked who was this man killed in this shooting? And how did he end their son’s driver’s license. They still couldn’t get ahold their son.
“I kept calling and calling and it just went to voicemail,” said Janet Brown.
In a written statement Thursday, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital said among other things, “it was discovered the deceased did not match the identification information in their possession. Staff immediately followed up and verified this misidentification with the emergency contacts.”
They added: “We deeply regret the situation and apologize for the impacts to those involved. We remain committed to providing lifesaving care to patients in distress."
The Brown family questions the statement. They said they were the ones who called to make sure the hospital identified the right person and they added they never got a full explanation of how this could happen from anyone at the hospital.
“Whatever protocol they have. What they did was not OK,” Janet Brown said.
