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Woman assumed to be on drugs by hospital refused treatment and arrested, dies in Jail
Did we ever talk about this? It happened a few months ago but is making the news now.
Autopsy Reveals Blood Clots Killed Anna Brown
POSTED: 8:06 am CDT March 26, 2012
UPDATED: 8:09 am CDT March 26, 2012
Read more: http://www.kmbc.com/news/30759902/detail.html#ixzz1qPjN7QcM
RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Family members have hired an attorney after a homeless relative seeking treatment for a sprained ankle refused to leave a St. Louis hospital, was arrested for trespassing and then died in a jail cell.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that an autopsy revealed blood clots killed Anna Brown when they migrated from her legs to her lungs. No lawsuit has been filed, but Brown's mother, Dorothy Davis, wants answers.
"If the police killed my daughter, I want to know," she said. "If the hospital is at fault, I want to know. I want to be able to tell her children why their mother isn't here."
In the week before her daughter's death last September she went to three hospitals complaining of leg pain after spraining her ankle.
Brown, a 29-year-old woman who had lost custody of two children, refused to leave the third hospital, St. Mary's Health Center. She yelled from a wheelchair at security personnel and Richmond Heights police officers that her legs hurt so badly she couldn't stand. She was arrested for trespassing and wheeled out in handcuffs after a doctor said she was healthy enough to be locked up.
She told officers she couldn't get out of the police car, so they dragged her by her arms into the station. They left her lying on the concrete floor of a jail cell. Just 15 minutes later, a jail worker found her cold to the touch.
Although officers suspected Brown was using drugs, autopsy results showed she had no drugs in her system.
St. Mary's officials say they did all they were supposed to do for Brown. "Our records show that, in this case, everything that should have been done medically was done properly. We found nothing that would have changed this tragic outcome," according to a statement.
Acting Police Chief Maj. Roy Wright said his officers had no way of knowing Brown's dire condition.
"A lot of times people don't want to stay in jail and will claim to be sick," he said. "We depend on medical officials to tell us they're OK."
Brown's personal problems came to a head in April when a state Children's Division representative found Brown's home in disarray. Brown's mother was allowed to care for the children as long as Brown didn't live with them. Soon Brown was on the streets, living in four homeless shelters from May to September 2011. Eventually, she joined the St. Louis Empowerment Center, a drop-in center for the mentally ill.
"It was like a light bulb went on when she heard others tell their stories," said Kevin Dean, a peer specialist at the center. "She was just starting to make progress."
State inspectors working for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - a federal agency that regulates hospitals - interviewed St. Mary's staff and reviewed medical records after the Post-Dispatch asked about Brown's case in January.
They found that when Brown arrived at St. Mary's around 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 20, her left ankle was swollen. She was there for about seven hours, during which ultrasounds on both of her legs were negative for blood clots.
Inspectors said she returned eight hours later and was discharged at 7 a.m. Three hours later, she was still there and refusing to leave.
After obtaining a "Fit for Confinement" report from a doctor at 12:30 p.m., officers carried her by her arms and legs into a cell and left her on her back on the floor. A short time later they were shocking her with a defibrillator and rushing her back to St. Mary's, where her nine siblings rushed to be with her.
"My sister is not here today because people passed judgment," said one of her siblings, Krystle Brown.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press
Read more: http://www.kmbc.com/news/30759902/detail.html#ixzz1qPjHXEeL
Re: Woman assumed to be on drugs by hospital refused treatment and arrested, dies in Jail
What a tragedy.
It's so scary that the medical professionals didn't recognize she had a clot. That happened to me, too.
I passed out, and fell down a flight of steps. I was taken by ambulance to a local hospital. They did a CT scan of my head (since I fell), but never determined why I passed out, and sent me home.
I passed out five days later and was taken to a different hospital, which found the clots in my lungs.
disclaimer: this is bad and a tragedy and i wish that she had received the compassionate care she deserved.
i will say, however, that a busy emergency room is frequently bombarded with people of all stripes who are on drugs or seeking drugs. for someone to make a nonspecific complaint about a leg hurting (after previous scans showed nothing) and to do so in a disruptive manner--and for that person to be homeless--i can see how in the rush and bustle and "here we go again" that the doctors and nurses and other staff are facing that would be discounted. note that i said discounted, not ignored. but i digress.
cville~
Multiple hospitals? That is the crime in this- you would think that one hospital would have done more. Very sad.
It sounds like she went to the same ER twice. What exactly should they have done differently? They checked her for clots, the test came out negative. Blood clots would have been the only lifethreatening emergency that would have needed immediate medical intervention that could have stemmed from complaints of a sore leg.
This is completely horrifying.
Are you serious???
did they find a broken ankle or anything on an xray?
if she said she'd been to multiple ERs they probably automatically assumed she was drug seeking and didn't take her seriously.
very sad
Gretchen Evie, born 7/8/2012 at 35w5d
she went back to the same one, so far as i can see. and i would think that if the hospitals were aware that she'd gone to more than one, that would bolster their perspective taht she may be opiate hunting.
listen, i didn't say what happend to here was right, i said that i can understand why it might.
More info:
FINAL MOMENTS
State inspectors working for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ? a federal agency that regulates hospitals ? interviewed St. Mary's staff and reviewed medical records after the Post-Dispatch asked about Brown's case in January.
They found that on Sept. 20, Brown returned to SLU Hospital for knee and ankle pain. X-rays of her knees were negative and she was given a prescription for a painkiller.
She refused to leave. Hospital security called St. Louis police, who responded about 5 a.m. Brown told them she wanted to go to a better hospital but refused to go in an ambulance, police said.
She then wheeled herself next door to Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, where doctors found tenderness in her legs. They told her she was at a pediatric hospital. She said she wasn't leaving unless someone took her to an adult hospital, according to the inspectors.
An ambulance then took her to St. Mary's, inspectors found. She arrived at 11:45 a.m. Her left ankle was swollen. She was there for about seven hours, during which ultrasounds on both of her legs were negative for blood clots. A nurse said she saw her stand up. A social worker gave her a list of shelters and a phone number for transportation.
She returned eight hours later by ambulance complaining of abdominal pain only, inspectors said. She refused to sign discharge papers but was discharged at 7 a.m.
Richmond Heights Officer Jason Tharp was at St. Mary's on another call about 10 a.m. when a security officer, Steve Schaffer, told him a woman was claiming she "did not receive adequate medical attention and did not have to leave."
She was sitting in a wheelchair and told officers she was waiting for a ride. Tharp told her to wait outside or face arrest for trespassing.
"You can't arrest me. I know my rights, I can't even stand up!" she yelled, according to police.
Officer Scott Stebelman said he waited for about three hours for a doctor to examine Brown before taking her to jail. At 12:30 p.m., a doctor issued a "Fit for Confinement" report, according to the state inspectors.
The inspectors' report, however, contains some differences from reports written by Richmond Heights police and the county medical examiner's office:
? Police and medical examiner reports, based on interviews from that day, quote St. Mary's staff as saying Brown did complain of leg pain on her return visit, not just abdominal pain.
? A St. Mary's nurse told the medical examiner that Brown was still complaining of leg and abdominal pain at 12:40 p.m.: "She was advised that she had already been treated and needed to leave the hospital."
? Police said the doctor's "fit for confinement" decision was made at 1:20 p.m., not 12:30 p.m. Police also said Brown yelled "My legs don't work!" as they wheeled her out after the exam.
Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/woman-unhappy-with-care-at-st-mary-s-hospital-is/article_ed640f3d-64a0-516c-88ff-fb770b5e9677.html#ixzz1qQI4M9af
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It's really tragic. It sounds like they did check for blood clots and it just didn't show up. If she was in different circumstances, though, I suspect they would have admitted her for observation, and been in a much better position to revive her (although I don't know if that would have helped).
I agree. If u/s showed no clots, how would they know that there were clots?
Or done additional tests for clots. Ultrasounds are not the only diagnostic tool.
What other tests should they have done? A venous doppler is standard of care. If this was negative, there is no other test indicated. This is a tragedy, but I don't see any malpractice on the part of the medical providers (from the information given).
They found mine with a CT-scan. There is also a blood test that shows if your clotting factor is elevated.
Right. The D-dimer would be the follow up if the ultrasound showed something, if the D-dimer were elevated, then a CT with PE protocol would be ordered.
I can easily understand how this would happen.