Suit filed over homeless woman's death in jail

Thursday, November 22, 2012

RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Mo. (AP) — A lawsuit alleges that St. Mary's Health Center in suburban St. Louis failed to diagnose a homeless woman's life-threatening condition before allowing police to take her to jail for refusing to leave the hospital's emergency room.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/UVZX8r ) reports that the family of Anna Brown filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Tuesday against the hospital. The suit also names Saint Louis University Hospital, which examined and released Brown previously. Several physicians are also named.

Brown died in 2011 after blood clots that had formed in her legs moved into her lungs. About an hour before her death, doctors at St. Mary's deemed her fit for confinement and staff asked police to remove her.

Brown had been at St. Mary's demanding more treatment for severe pain in her legs.

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Hugs 6 months ago

Well it don't look good for the Hospitals ER doctors. This is going to cost them & I hope it does. The lady needed help and didn't get it so the cops took her away.

Gotta listen to the patient people, she was pleading for her life & didn't get it.

eileen10 6 months ago

The link states the hosp. president believes the care provided by the drs., nurses and hosp. staff was appropriate. I disagree. Anyone complaining of severe pain in the legs is a red light for blood clots. Simple testing would have diagnosed the problem. If this is their standard of care I wouldn't set foot in that hospital unless I had a death wish.

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