Tragedy, Wrongful death

Woman Died in Hospital Parking Lot After Being Forcibly Removed from Emergency Room

The ReadyWriter

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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.

Published by The ReadyWriter

Writer, Published Author, CEO of ReadyWriter Production Company and Blog Talk Radio Host.

93 thoughts on “Woman Died in Hospital Parking Lot After Being Forcibly Removed from Emergency Room”

    1. Sue them for removing a disruptive woman who had a history of acting a fool in their medical facility? Makes perfect sense to me. 😏 According to the information provided in this article, she ate herself to death.

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      1. We are not talking about her so called “history”. We’re talking about the events that happened on the day of her death. She was misdiagnosed and died because of that misdiagnosis.

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      2. A 300 pound woman complaining about a stomach ache isn’t a medical emergency; and when you factor in the number of times she had been kicked out of their ER for acting a fool, I believe the hospital did the right thing. If she had behaved like a civilized human being, maybe she could have convinced them something was wrong and she might have lived to die another day.

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      5. The very First article that came out stated she was having a hard time breathing. That is before all of these other news stations started reporting it. They are trying to cover up their mistakes Hun.

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      7. She was in obvious distress and on oxygen in the ER. If the ER staff did their jobs she would not be dead.

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      10. It is obvious even to those of the most mean intelligence that this woman was mistreated and the law enforcement and hospital are culpable in her death.

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      12. Obviously not. They misdiagnosed this women and then mistreated her. There are no excuses for what happened here.

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      14. Right . . . Let’s say she was disruptive because in America’s eyes if a black person gets mad or disruptive then they deserve to die.

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      15. meanwhile you can be a strungout meth head sceaming about demons coming for you and eating your hair but so long as you are white, you will be seen to with the utmost dignity

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      16. I know we want to make it about race all the time but the truth is..it isn’t always about race. It`s about people in the medical profession forgetting why they decided to go into this line of work and letting their attitudes get in the way of their job. If you judge this women and make excuses for the police and medical staff at the hospital..you are wrong. When a patient says they are in pain..they are in pain. These people didn’t do their job. A women suffered and died..there is no excuse.

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      20. What article said she had been disruptive in that hospital? Ever?
        I worked in the hospitalS and medical staff , HORRIBLE. The bed side manner is nonexistent. There was one hospital where the RN Supervising manager stated, “The family needs to let the patient die. That way we will have a bed available.”
        I fault the hospital.

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      21. There are multiple police reports documenting Ms. Dawson’s irrational and churlish behavior. Once, she even went to a daycare where she threw rocks at an employee.

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      22. What does her throwing rocks at a daycare have to do with her coming to the ER unable to BREATHE? Let’s stick to the day of the event now, when she was murdered. If I couldn’t breathe and someone unplugged my oxygen and shoved me out the door, I’d act up too.

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      25. Excuse me but obesity, as you keep asserting in your posts, is associated with poor health. By your own argument a 300 pound woman complaining of ANYTHING is a medical emergency since in your reasoning she could die at any moment. Pain is signal that something is wrong in the body. If you have ever worked in ER or frequented there you will know that the FIRST thing they ask is “Are you in pain?” and Head, Heart, Stomach are considered very seriously. If you go in with pains in these areas they will get you in fast. Stomach pain can mean a whole hosts of life threatening conditions, especially on an obese person.

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      27. I don’t care if she was acting a fool she has a right to get medical attention just like any other human being. she was acting a fool because they REFUSED to treat her.

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      28. Angel… you obviously have no medical background…just like the cops. Obviously just like the nursing staff who has no clue how to triage a patient . All they had to do was take a set of vitals to know this women was in serious trouble. What she died of is one the most painful deaths you can imagine. What you said up there sounds heartless ignorent and dissmissive of another human beings suffering.

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      29. This story is crazy. and we should drag Angel’s ass outside this blog and beat her ass for talking stooped as hell as usual. Just because the woman was fat and had an attitude doesn’t mean she deserved to die. FOH! If you were hurting you’d have an attitude too.

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      30. If they were wrong in this case it is likely they were wrong in their assessment of her in ALL the other cases. This woman is dead it is obvious she wasn’t faking it and any erratic behavior she was exhibiting can be from the fact she could not breath and was not being treated properly for it, at a HOSPITAL. Also is she was displaying behavior that might suggest poor mental health I would like to know if they evaluated her for that? Doubt it. They did not care because she is Black and poor.

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    2. Regarding y’all’s argument that Ms. Dawson misbehaved because she wasn’t feeling well, that’s possible, but according to her track record, she was never in a good mood.

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      2. So they didn’t have a professional and moral obligation to assess her? not even her physical or mental state? so she didn’t deserve medical attention because she “misbehaved”? …so pretty much we should deny medical attention to individuals who “misbehave”….like drunk drivers? repeating drunk drivers? you sound ignorant…

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      7. My mother isn’t obese and there is no history of blood clots in my family. So….
        ————–
        You don’t have to be obese to get/have blood clots. Anything is possible. Smh

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      8. My mother isn’t obese and there is no history of blood clots in my family. So….
        ***********
        You big dummy. So…don’t ever take a long flight and not walk around, don’t have surgery, don’t get pregnant, don’t smoke, and a host of other things. Like someone only gets a blood clot because it’s hereditary. If they’re only hereditary, which they aren’t, why do nurses put compression socks and leg pumps on patients going into surgery?

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      9. My mother isn’t obese and there is no history of blood clots in my family. So….
        ————–
        That’s no guarantee. Death is the great equalizer, my friend. None of us get out of here alive. Humble yourself.

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      10. You don’t have to be obese to get a pulmonary embolism. Have any females in your family who could potentially bare a child that alone increases the risk.

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      11. I never said Obese people are the only people who develop blood clots. However, obesity, poor diet, and a lack of exercise are contributing factors.

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      12. But that was your argument in regards to your mother and I was simply making it known there are numerous factors as to why these blood clots can develope. Poor diet, lack of exercise are one thing and some people are victim of circumstance. Just like some people develope cancer from smoking, some people develope cancer from second hand smoke, both still have a right to life. Regardless as to WHY she had the blood clot, if proper care were taken she still had about a 75% chance give or take of living through this.

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    3. Morbid obesity is not a death sentence. Morbid obesity is 100 pounds over your “ideal” body weight which for some people is not achievable or desirable depending on your body type.

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  5. Hospitals are places where people go who are in distress, when you are in pain you are not at your most polite. Hospital staff and law enforcement have extensive training to deal with crisis and patients in crisis. There are few “calm” people in the emergency room especially when they cannot breath.

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  8. The insensitivity and the level of treatment this woman received is horrible. The hospital not only acted out negligence but they proved they didn’t give a shit about her condition. How unfortunate.

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  12. wow!!! this is a horrible story. this woman’s death could have been prevented in so many ways. smh 😥 so sorry for her family.

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  13. I tried to comment on other stories and the comment section is closed already. LOL! Tracy ain’t playin. It’s like speak now or 4ever hold ya peace.

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  14. Kicking an obviously ill woman out of the hospital multiple times will come back to bite them. They obviously didn’t examine her properly the last time she was there. Her condition exacerbated (worsened) because they didn’t do their jobs.

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  15. Everybody involved needs to lose their job and professional license. Fire the hospital administration as well. Once folks start losing their livelihood they’ll take people serious.

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