Woman Dies While Being Kicked Out of Hospital

The latest news on the death of a Florida woman after being forcibly removed from a hospital by police.

A Florida woman who refused to leave a hospital when she was discharged died after she was forcibly removed by police, authorities said.

Ruth Attaway, administrator and CEO of the hospital told the Tallahassee Democrat that the staff did “everything they could” to save Dawson.

Dawson was readmitted to the emergency room – where she was pronounced dead an hour later.

She was then arrested for disorderly conduct and trespassing and officers escorted her out of the hospital.

“We all grieve when we lose a community member”, Police Chief Mark Mallory said in a statement, adding that Blountstown is “a small, close-knit community”. There are audio recordings of the arrest, though, and the police have advised that the recordings and a full police report will be released before Christmas.

Officers say she was escorted outside, handcuffed, and collapsed at the back door of the police cruiser as the officer was trying to put her into the vehicle. Dawson’s family stated in the report that she refused to leave because she was still in pain. Attorney Daryl Parks says it is still very early on, but future action on their part could include a suit towards the hospital, the police department or both on behalf of the family: “Something happened in course of them taking her to the vehicle that alerted them that they needed to go back inside”.

The Florida State Conference of the NAACP says 57-year-old Barbara Dawson collapsed Monday while being escorted in handcuffs from the Liberty Calhoun Hospital.

And the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has taken over the investigation from Blountstown police.

“The most reasonable thing to do is to let her sit there and be able to settle down until she felt well”. A medical examiner confirmed after an autopsy Wednesday that Dawson died of a blood clot in her lungs. She says the hospital will fully cooperate.

“Those that were responsible for her death… need to be held accountable in a court of law”, Dale Landry, Tallahassee NAACP chapter president, told WCTV.

Mallory told the Democrat the officer uncuffed her and hospital staff were summoned, where they checked her vital signs. Once law enforcement got involved, he said, medical personnel and the officer did not take proper precautions given Dawson’s medical condition.