A Florida woman who was forcibly removed from a hospital lay in the parking lot for 18 minutes before a doctor readmitted her. Barbara Dawson, 57, later died of a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in her lung).
Dawson’s ordeal at Calhoun-Liberty Hospital in Tallahassee, Florida was recorded by police audio and dash cam video on Dec. 21.
The audio and video were released this week to the family’s attorney, Benjamin L. Crump.
The audio and 2 ½-hour video, which the family and media reviewed for the first time at a press conference, shows a Blountstown police officer arriving at the hospital.
The officer is heard on audio attempting to persuade Dawson to leave the hospital’s emergency room.
Dawson sounds panicked as she tells the officer she can’t breathe, according to a report on Yahoo News.
The officer — or a nurse (it isn’t clear who) — disconnected Dawson’s oxygen tubing and turned off her oxygen.
The officer held Dawson by her arm, and nudged her along as he led her out of the hospital.
Dash cam video shows Dawson collapse about 1 to 2 feet from the police car while the officer reaches for his car keys.
The officer is heard on audio saying Dawson is being “non-compliant,” “faking” and refusing to get in the police car.
A nurse checked Dawson’s pulse while she lay propped against the police car — in obvious distress.
The cop and the nurse tried multiple times to get Dawson into the police car.
Finally, after 18 minutes, a doctor came out, said Dawson’s condition “appeared to have changed” and readmitted her to the hospital.
Dawson died later that day. The hospital listed Dawson’s cause of death as pulmonary embolism caused by morbid obesity. Dawson weighed 270 pounds at time of death.
Dawson’s family is planning to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital and the Blountstown Police Department.
Multiple agencies are investigating Dawson’s death.
