The doctor who pronounced Scientologist Lisa McPherson dead pays her estate $100,000. A Clearwater doctor who declared Scientologist Lisa McPherson dead when she arrived at a New Port Richey hospital in December 1995 has paid her estate $100,000 to settle his portion of a wrongful death suit McPherson's family filed against the Church of Scientology and others. James Felman, the Tampa lawyer who represents Dr. David Minkoff, said two medical malpractice insurance companies paid the entire amount. "It wasn't our idea ...

She is one of an estimated 3,300 Scientologists who have migrated to Clearwater in the 1990s, the most dramatic period of growth for the church during its 22 years in Clearwater. In addition, the church has said it is "deadly serious" about its plans for the year 2000, which include tripling the size of its Clearwater staff to more than 3,500; launching a local Scientology "university" that would accommodate more than 10,000 students a week; and having "Clearwater known as the ...

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Late on a November afternoon two years ago, a 36-year-old Scientologist named Lisa McPherson was involved in a minor traffic accident. She was not injured, but she inexplicably stripped off her clothes and began to walk naked down the street. A paramedic rushed her into an ambulance and asked why she had taken off her clothes. Ms. McPherson replied: "I wanted help. I wanted help." She was taken to a nearby hospital for a psychiatric examination, but several ...

The Church of Scientology's version of the circumstances surrounding the death of one of its members always raised more questions than it answered. Now Scientology's top officials cannot even keep their own stories straight, further undermining their credibility. That increases the pressure on Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe to uncover the truth about Lisa McPherson's death. Were Scientology officials right when they insisted McPherson was capable of walking when she was loaded into a van at the church's Fort Harrison Hotel ...

CLEARWATER — Was it an honest mistake, a slip of the tongue? Or was it the naked truth, carelessly uttered on camera A top official for the Church of Scientology told a German television crew recently that church member Lisa McPherson died in a room at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater. On its face, the statement marks a major change in Scientology's version of events surrounding McPherson's unexplained death at age 36. It came in the presence of one of ...

The death of 36 year old Lisa McPherson while in the "care" of fellow Scientologists at the Clearwater headquarters has led to an ongoing investigation by Clearwater police and has been the focus of numerous stories in the Tampa Tribune, St. Petersburg Times, New York Times, local media, NBC Nightly News, and episodes on Inside Edition. Lisa's tragic story began when she joined Scientology upon high school graduation. But two weeks before Thanksgiving, 1995, Lisa "told friends that she was ready ...

As no doubt befits a society founded by Pilgrims, America has a long tradition of controversial movements maturing to success, whether Mormons or Christian Scientists or Jehovah's Witnesses. Today, the latest cult forcing itself to our attention is the Church of Scientology. Scientology was founded in the early 1950s by L. Ron Hubbard, a science fiction writer. He fashioned a creation myth around Xenu, who froze and transported thetan souls to volcanoes in Teegeeack, now earth. The creed holds that humans ...

The truth in the McPherson case Re: Five doctors agree with examiner in Scientology death, March 9. A great deal of false information has been circulated by the media concerning the Lisa McPherson case, the most recent of which appeared in the Times with quotes from medical experts purportedly in support of the allegations made by the Pinellas/Pasco medical examiner, Dr. Joan Wood. But as with much else in this case, the truth was not made known, and a false picture ...

CLEARWATER — Five pathologists say it is clear from key lab results that Lisa McPherson was severely dehydrated when she died after a 17-day stay at a Church of Scientology retreat. The Times interviewed the doctors after the much-publicized disagreement between the church and Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood over how McPherson died. None of the doctors were previously familiar with the case. While many of their conclusions echo what Wood has said about McPherson's death, most of the doctors said ...

CLEARWATER — In a ruling that has both sides of a court case claiming victory, a judge will allow the Church of Scientology to examine some records from the autopsy of one of its members. The records will be opened today to the church and the public. They concern Lisa McPherson, a 36-year-old Scientologist who entered the church's downtown Clearwater retreat a healthy woman and died 17 days later, on Dec. 5, 1995. The church has objected to findings by Pinellas-Pasco ...

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 ...

As the mother of an ex-Scientologist, I believe if Henry Bartnik (S-H 19/5) researched official records he would find the autobiographical accounts of Scientology founder Ron Hubbard to be grossly inaccurate. The problem with Hubbard's achievements in education and science is his lack of scientific process. His work is not subject to ongoing public discourse, criticism and reproduction with controlled studies. His most damning legacy is a policy which effectively suppresses critical analyses internally, and attacks external critics with vengeance. Hubbard, ...