Woman goes to ER, kicked out for trespassing, dies in jail.

[jimmy olsen]

 

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/29/10926817-hospital-mom-booted-from-er-who-died-in-jail-was-treated-appropriately

Hospital: Mom booted from ER who died in jail was treated appropriately

By msnbc.com staff and news services

RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. – Officials at a St. Louis hospital on Thursday defended their actions in the case of a homeless woman who sought treatment for a sprained ankle and died in police custody after being arrested for refusing to leave the emergency room.

An autopsy determined that Anna Brown's death in a jail cell in September was caused by blood clots that formed in her legs and migrated to her lungs, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The newspaper also obtained surveillance footage of the woman's final moments. In the video, officers are seen carrying Brown into a jail cell. The cell door closes and Brown is heard moaning and crying.

Brown's family says authorities treated the 29-year-old mother of two unfairly and have hired a St. Louis-based lawyer, Keith Link. Link did not respond to telephone messages from msnbc.com on Thursday.

St. Mary's Health Center says its staff followed medical guidelines and performed appropriate tests, acknowledging the "outrage being expressed in this tragic event."

"Unfortunately, even with appropriate testing using sophisticated technology, blood clots can still be undetected in a small number of cases," according to a statement released by St. Mary's Health Center on Thursday. "The sad reality is that emergency departments across the country are often a place of last resort for many people in our society who suffer from complex social problems that become medical issues when they are not addressed. It is unfortunate that it takes a tragic event like this to call attention to a crisis in our midst."

Police have said officers had no way of knowing Brown's dire condition.

Brown went to three hospitals complaining of leg pain in the days leading up to her death, including her visit to St. Mary's that led to her arrest for trespassing. She was wheeled out in handcuffs after a doctor said she was healthy enough to be locked up.

Brown had been struggling after a series of devastating setbacks, family say.

'Starting to  make progress'
A New Year's Eve tornado in 2010 destroyed Brown's home in north St. Louis home, the Post-Dispatch reported. She and her two children moved to Berkeley, a St. Louis suburb, and she lost her job at a sandwich shop soon afterward, the Post-Dispatch said.

According to the Post-Dispatch, her utilities were shut off because she stopped paying her bills, and after a child welfare agent who visited the home in April found a feces-filled toilet, burn marks on the floor where she had lit fires to keep warm and other distressing signs, Brown was arrested for parental neglect. Police reported at the time that she seemed confused, the newspaper reported.

Her mother, Dorothy Davis, received custody of Brown's children on the condition that Brown couldn't also live with them, and Brown's home was condemned, the newspaper reported. She lived in four homeless shelters from May until September, according to the Post-Dispatch.

Brown joined the St. Louis Empowerment Center, a drop-in center for the mentally ill, the newspaper reported.

"She was just starting to make progress," Kevin Dean, a peer specialist at the center, told the Post-Dispatch.

Dean and another staff member at the drop-in center recalled hearing Anna Brown say she hurt her ankle.

Davis, who said Brown called every day to check on her children, said she wants answers about her daughter's death.

"If the police killed my daughter, I want to know. If the hospital is at fault, I want to know," Davis told the Post-Dispatch. "I want to be able to tell her children why their mother isn't here."

This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.

[CountDeMoney]

The Republican Party approves this message.

[Martinus]

Maybe if she greased some palms, she would be operated - or does it only work in Romania?

[Eddie Teach]

In the US people with the money to do that usually aren't homeless. It's a last resort, not a lifestyle choice.

[Kleves]

"If the police killed my daughter, I want to know. If the hospital is at fault, I want to know," Davis told the Post-Dispatch. "I want to be able to tell her children why their mother isn't here."

Translation: Jackpot. Lawsuit incoming.

[garbon]

I'm not sure how the hospital was supposed to find those blood clots when someone came in complaining about a sprained ankle.  Story seems to lack details of what her trespass consisted of.

[CountDeMoney]

Story seems to lack details of what her trespass consisted of.

All that's needed is to be ordered to leave once, and if she didn't leave soon enough, she gets locked up.

[Jacob]

"If the police killed my daughter, I want to know. If the hospital is at fault, I want to know," Davis told the Post-Dispatch. "I want to be able to tell her children why their mother isn't here."

Translation: Jackpot. Lawsuit incoming.

Seems fair enough, given the current system.

[garbon]

Story seems to lack details of what her trespass consisted of.

All that's needed is to be ordered to leave once, and if she didn't leave soon enough, she gets locked up.

And I'm curious as to what she did to warrant that.

[garbon]

"If the police killed my daughter, I want to know. If the hospital is at fault, I want to know," Davis told the Post-Dispatch. "I want to be able to tell her children why their mother isn't here."

Translation: Jackpot. Lawsuit incoming.

Seems fair enough, given the current system.

If the hospital didn't think she needed medical treatment, who were the police to second guess them?

[Eddie Teach]

Seems fair enough, given the current system.

Lottery system is never "fair".

[CountDeMoney]

Story seems to lack details of what her trespass consisted of.

All that's needed is to be ordered to leave once, and if she didn't leave soon enough, she gets locked up.

And I'm curious as to what she did to warrant that.

Not leave.

[derspiess]

Story seems to lack details of what her trespass consisted of.

All that's needed is to be ordered to leave once, and if she didn't leave soon enough, she gets locked up.

And I'm curious as to what she did to warrant that.

Must have been something pretty bad.  From what I've seen, they tolerate all kinds of craziness and/or riff-raff in ERs.

[garbon]

Must have been something pretty bad.  From what I've seen, they tolerate all kinds of craziness and/or riff-raff in ERs.

This.

[HVC]

Not sure what either one did wrong. Lady says her ankle hurts, which isn't really a hospital matter, i don't think, and so they ask her to leave. She doesn,'t so cops are called. Later she dies. Even if the hospital had treated her ankle she'd still die from the blood clot.