California Hospital Fails to Inform Family of Death

Oakland, Calif. – An Oakland hospital is investigating why it failed to inform the family of a 47-year-old man about his death.

Jerald Constantine died of heart failure on Oct. 8 at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, but family members tell KTVU-TV they only learned of his death 10 days later from the coroner's office.

They say Constantine regularly received treatment at the hospital for kidney disease, and his emergency contacts were on file. They were also on a cell phone he was carrying when he passed away.

Constantine's niece, Andrea Short, says family members searched the streets and called and visited hospitals before filing a missing persons report with police.

An Alta Bates representative said the hospital is looking into what went wrong in its handling of Constantine's case.