Scientologists promised to care for woman who later died
By CHERYL WALDRIP of The Tampa Tribune
Published in The Tampa Tribune Jan. 11, 1997
CLEARWATER - On the day Lisa McPherson signed herself out of Morton Plant
Hospital's emergency room, fellow Scientologists promised to take good care of
her.
``Her friends at Scientology will watch her 24 hours a day and be sure that
she gets the care that they want her to have and the patient wants to have,''
physician Flynn Lovett wrote in McPherson's medical records on Nov. 18, 1995.
``I told them I felt this was OK.''
McPherson left with members of the Church of Scientology, who took her to
the church's headquarters at the Fort Harrison Hotel in downtown Clearwater.
Seventeen days later, church members took her to HCA (Columbia) Hospital in
New Port Richey, where she was dead on arrival. Doctors could not revive her.
She was 36.
Her death was caused by a blood clot brought on by ``bed rest'' and ``severe
dehydration,'' according to an autopsy by the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's
Office. Her arms and legs were bruised. She had abrasions and what appeared to
be bug or animal bites.
Clearwater police are investigating her death.
The medical records, provided by McPherson's family, reveal she had a ``very
minor'' car accident on Nov. 18, 1995. At the scene, McPherson took off her
clothes, and paramedics took her to Morton Plant for evaluation. The records
show she had ``no evidence of [an] acute medical problem or injury.''
But mentally, she was troubled.
``She stated she needed to talk,'' Lovett's report said. ``She took her
clothes off to make people think she was crazy. She kept switching topics back
and forth. ... The Scientologists arrived and told me that they did not want
her to see a psychiatrist and that they would be able to handle her
themselves.''
With her ``friends from the congregation'' at her bedside, McPherson spoke
in a monotone, had a fixed stare through teary eyes and appeared forgetful or
confused at times, according to a report by psychiatric nurse Joseph Price.
Asked about her ``bizarre behavior,'' McPherson told Price, ``I did it
clothes off] for attention - I did not want to be arrested.''
``Patient states, `I want to go home [with] my friends from the congregation
- I won't do anything to harm myself.' ''
Lovett's evaluation shows McPherson said she did not want to stay in the
hospital, and, although ``we feel that she does have a psychiatric problem,''
doctors could not commit her under the state's Baker Act because she was not a
danger to herself or others.
Lovett told her he thought she was capable of making a rational decision
about leaving, and she signed herself out against medical advice.
``Again, the Scientology group will observe her very closely and will give
her whatever care that they want to do for this problem she is having,'' Lovett
wrote.
Her family was never notified McPherson had been in a car accident, or that
she was mentally unstable, until after her death. Instead of listing her mother
as her next of kin, Morton Plant records list her supervisor at a
Scientologist-owned company.
Asked about the statements in the medical records, Scientology attorney
Elliot Abelson said, ``That's exactly what we told the Clearwater police and
exactly what we told you, and we're really happy it came out.''
Abelson said the church ``watched her carefully'' and that she was not ill
until the day she died on Dec. 5, 1995.
Medical records from the New Port Richey hospital where McPherson was taken
upon her death show she had a staph infection. Scientology officials have said
it was ``severe'' and have suggested it contributed to her death.
Medical Examiner Joan Wood said Friday it did not.
Wood said she could not comment on the length of time McPherson had been
dehydrated prior to her death, except to say ``this didn't happen in two or
three hours.''