Black Woman Who Is Suffocating Dies During Forced Removal From Hospital

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Black Woman Who Is Suffocating Dies During Forced Removal From Hospital

January 4th, 2016

Awake Goy

Woman dies after being refused oxygen by hospital staff.

Police answered a call from Liberty Calhoun Hospital in Tallahassee, FL. and arrested a 57-year-old black woman who had been discharged by doctors but wouldn’t leave. During the process of removing the woman from the hospital, the woman died.

Barbara Dawson was originally taken to the hospital by ambulance complaining of stomach pain. Several hours later hospital staff discharged her. However, Dawson didn’t feel better and wanted to remain in the hospital. Because she wouldn’t leave, hospital staff called the police. Chief Mark Mallory of Blountstown (FL) Police said, “She was causing a disturbance in the hospital with her language and the volume of her voice.” Dawson was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing, handcuffed, and forcibly removed from the hospital. Dawson then wanted the medical staff to return her oxygen mask because she was having trouble breathing; however a nurse told Dawson that she was breathing just fine and denied Dawson’s request for oxygen. Outside the hospital, Dawson continued to plead for her oxygen and also for the police officer not to take her to jail. Just as the officer opened the door of the patrol car to place her inside, Dawson collapsed. When Dawson failed to respond to verbal commands the arresting officer removed the handcuffs and summoned hospital staff. Dawson’s vital signs were checked and she was then readmitted to the hospital. She was later pronounced dead.

Mallory said police were told by a doctor after Dawson got back in the hospital that her vital signs were good and it was the hospital’s decision to readmit her. However, relatives of Dawson said medical staff couldn’t find a pulse on Dawson after she collapsed and they didn’t begin trying to revive her until they had wheeled her back inside the hospital. The administrator of the hospital said the staff did everything they could for Dawson. “They did their best trying to save her. Our staff was very aggressive with her treatment,” the administrator said.

An autopsy revealed that Dawson died of a pulmonary embolism – a blood clot in the lungs. The medical examiner said this type of blood clot is often “difficult to detect and can be impossible to treat.”

Dawson’s family has hired an attorney and is preparing to file a lawsuit. The attorney has expressed strong belief that “the death was due to negligence by the police department and the hospital.”