Can someone give me the very condensed version of the Lisa McPherson story?
I saw the death pics. I don't know the circumstances.
Excerpt:
After spending half her life as a member of the Church of Scientology, Lisa McPherson told friends she was ready to get out. At 36, she yearned to reunite with her mom and old friends and start a new life in Dallas. She hoped to visit them at Thanksgiving and vowed to be home for good by last Christmas. (Tampa Tribune, December 15, 1996)
A woman [Lisa McPherson ] involved in a minor traffic accident sheds her clothes and walks nude down the street. Police take her to the hospital to see a psychiatric nurse, and against medical advice she leaves with friends. Those friends take her to their church. Seventeen days later, they drive her to a hospital more than 20 miles away in another county. The woman is dead on arrival. . . (SP Times, December 18, 1996)
A lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that the Church of Scientology is responsible for the death of Lisa McPherson, who died in 1995 while in the care of church members... The lawsuit was filed in Hillsborough Circuit Court by Tampa lawyer Ken Dandar, an attorney representing McPherson's estate. It promises to seek "substantial" punitive and compensatory damages against the church. (SP Times February 20, 1997)
Police say McPherson, 36, entered the Fort Harrison Hotel, Scientology's Clearwater headquarters, in November 1995. They say she was physically healthy but psychologically disturbed. Seventeen days later she died. An autopsy determined her death was due to a blood clot brought on by ``severe dehydration'' and ``bed rest.'' Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood has said the medical evidence indicates McPherson went without fluids for five to 10 days, possibly longer, and was comatose for at least 24 hours before she died. Bites on her hands were most likely made by cockroaches, Wood has said. (Tampa Tribune, June 1, 1997)
Police have recommended criminal charges in the case of a Scientologist who died in 1995 after spending 17 days at a church retreat. A prosecution summary delivered Monday to Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe recommends charges in the death of Lisa McPherson, said Clearwater Deputy Police Chief Paul Maser, who would not discuss specifics of the case. (Associated Press, December 16, 1997)
McPherson, 36, died in 1995 while in the care of fellow Scientologists, who isolated her in a room at the church's Fort Harrison Hotel, forced medications on her and waited too long to take her to a hospital when she became ill, according to an affidavit that accompanied the charging documents Friday in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court. (SP Times, November 15, 1998) Link
Lisa McPherson's death:
The following is an electronic copy of the coroner's report concerning Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist whose mysterious death -- and the Church of Scientology's opposition to the continued police investigation into her death -- has caused some controversy, both on the Internet and in the community of Clearwater, Florida, the home of the Church of Scientology's spirital Mecca.
Of note is the cause of death. The Scientologists first informed McPherson's family that she had died of a fast-acting meningitis; later, they blamed a blood clot which travelled from a bruise on her leg to her lungs. Their final story was that she had died of complications from a staphylococcus infection which, they said, explained the bruises on her body. Although no staph infection is mentioned in the report, the medical examiner stated that her death was in no way related to a staph infection. REPORT OF AUTOPSY