Woman found dead at construction site was General Hospital patient

A 36-year-old woman whose body turned up at a construction site in San Francisco last year was found with a dismembered arm and severe injuries to her face and skull after she went missing while on a psychiatric hold at San Francisco General Hospital, according to a lawsuit filed by her family today.

Haneefah Nuriddin was found dead on the bottom of a scaffold at an under-construction apartment building in the Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood at 7:21 a.m. on May 1, 2015. Little was reported about the circumstances of her death.

But according to a federal lawsuit filed today by the Law Offices of John Burris on behalf of her father, Benjamin Nuriddin, hospital staff had reported her missing about 12 hours before she was found dead.

Haneefah Nuriddin had a long history of mental illness and had been treated at SFGH numerous times prior to her death, according to the suit. When she was reported missing, she had been hospitalized on an involuntary psychiatric hold because of her disabling mental illness.

Hospital staff reported her missing to San Francisco police at 7:13 p.m. on April 30, 2015, according to the suit. Staff told Benjamin Nuriddin that his daughter was “lost” while being transported from the hospital’s main psychiatric facility at 1001 Potrero Ave. to another facility in the hospital for an appointment.

She was found dead the next morning with a missing arm and severe injuries to her face in the under construction 67-unit condominium tower. San Francisco police still considered her a missing person at the time, according to the suit.

Her father’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit:

“Ms. Nuriddin leaves behind a grieving father and family, who are haunted by the knowledge of her horrific and untimely death.”

Hospital spokesman Brent Andrew said today that he couldn’t answer questions about a patient on a psychiatric hold because of privacy laws and also couldn’t comment on pending litigation.

San Francisco police and the city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for negligence not providing Haneefah Nuriddin proper medical or custodial care, leading to her death, among other allegations.

The hospital and the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, which provides security for the hospital, previously came under fire when a patient there, 57-year-old Lynne Spalding, was found dead in a hospital stairwell in October 2013 after going missing there 17 days earlier.

Her family later reached a $3 million settlement with The City.