Unclear how woman gained access to building. It is not one that is accessible to patients or public. Unknown if this was a hospital patient. pic.twitter.com/h83UjNju97 — Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) May 30, 2018 WATCH LIVE: SF General Hospital spokesperson Rachael Kagan: "A woman's body was found in a stairwell at a power plant building near the hospital...we do not know how she gained access to the area." https://t.co/UpSZ5ar1Pq pic.twitter.com/SwlQfhcQTr — ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) May 30, 2018 #Breaking - woman's body discovered in stairwell at SF General. Statement per SF Dept of Public Health #SanFrancisco pic.twitter.com/qgpy4kA9kh — Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) May 30, 2018 SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Officials say they are investigating after the body of a woman was discovered on Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital property Wednesday afternoon.During a press conference, San Francisco General Hospital spokesperson Rachael Kagan said a hospital staff member found the body in a stairway inside a power plant building near the hospital at 1 p.m.Officials are working to figure out how she gained access to the inside of the building.The case is being investigated right now by the Department of Public Health, San Francisco Sheriff, San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco Fire Department.Officials are working on identifying the body and to determine how she died.This is not the first time a body has been found at a stairway on SF General Hospital property. In 2013, Lynne Spalding was found at a stairway 17 days after missing from her room.Officials were not acting on a missing person report when the woman's body was found. They do not yet know if she was a missing person or a patient at the hospital.No further details are available at this time.<doc-sep>SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Changes are now in effect at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital after the body of missing woman was discovered on their property.The hospital along with law enforcement officials just held a news conference on the circumstances surrounding the death of a Ruby Lee Andersen. Her family says the 76-year-old was suffering from dementia. Her body was discovered in the stairwell of the hospital's power plant building on Wednesday. There is no word yet on how she ended up in a restricted area. Andersen lived in Behavioral Health Center Residential Care Facility for the Elderly located on the property.As a result the hospital says it will now require 24/7 security badge access. Officials say Andersen was not a hospital patient.The medical examiner is conducting an autopsy Thursday to determine cause of death.Something similar happened five years ago. In 2013, Lynne Spalding's body was found in a hospital stairwell two weeks after she went missing.<doc-sep>SAN FRANCISCO — An elderly woman reported missing from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital more than 10 days ago was found dead on its grounds Wednesday afternoon. Family members identified the woman as 76-year-old Ruby Lee Anderson, according to KGO-TV, this news organization’s media partner. Anderson, who suffered from dementia, wandered away from a San Francisco Department of Public Health facility at the campus May 20. Get breaking news with our free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store. An employee found the body on the stairway of the power plant building about 1 p.m., the hospital said in a statement. The area is reportedly inaccessible to the general public. “We’re very concerned that this happened,” said Rachael Kagan, a spokeswoman for the health department. “We don’t know how this woman gained access to the area where she was found, and we are absolutely looking into that.” An investigation is being conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department and the San Francisco Police Department. The health department is expected to provide an update on the case Thursday morning. This isn’t the first time a patient has gone missing and turned up dead on the hospital grounds. In October 2013, the body of 57-year-old Lynne Spalding was found on a rarely used exterior stairwell 17 days after she was reported missing from her hospital bed. Start your day with the news you need from the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our new Morning Report weekday newsletter. The sheriff’s department later acknowledged it had failed to conduct a thorough search for Spalding. The case sparked changes in security, training and protocol at the hospital. The city’s medical examiner concluded that Spalding died days before she was found — probably from a chemical imbalance due to complications from chronic alcohol abuse. Check back for updates.<doc-sep>
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- It's happened again -- a patient found dead inside a stairwell on the campus of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. In this case, it happened ten days after the woman was reported missing. San Francisco's Department of Public Health confirms the body is that of 76-year-old Ruby Lee Andersen. ABC7 News spoke to two of her children over the phone and they say the family is in "deep shock".Andersen suffered from dementia and was being treated at one of the Department of Public Health facilities on the hospital campus. Family members put out a news release on May 22, two days after she wandered off and never came back.It turned out, Andersen didn't go very far. A staff engineer found her body in the stairwell of the hospital's power plant building, which is supposedly not accessible to the general public. "We don't know how this person gained access to the area where she was found and we're absolutely looking into that," Rachael Kagan, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.It's up to the Medical Examiner to determine the cause of death. For many in the community, the discovery of Andersen's body is bringing back painful memories from five years ago. That's when the body of 58-year-old Lynne Spalding was also found in a stairwell. In her case, she had been missing for 17 days and the stairwell was in the hospital building. "It's just something that should never have happened but the fact that it happened twice, is truly beyond the pale," said David Perry, a friend of Spalding's.Spalding's family settled for $3 million and her case sparked changes in security, training, and protocol at the hospital. "I can't imagine what the family of this poor woman is going through. More to the point, what this poor woman went through. You go into a place of healing and you're supposed to be safe," said Perry.The Dept of Public Health, the Sheriff's Department and Police are investigating. An update is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday.