TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's health care agency has issued a $45,000 fine to the hospital where a woman died after being forcibly removed.
In a 30-page document issued Wednesday, the Agency for Health Care Administration lists four counts against Calhoun-Liberty Hospital - three related to access to emergency care and services and one count of failure to evaluate a patient grievance.
AHCA Secretary Elizabeth Dudek recently called the deficiencies at the Blountstown hospital "egregious." The facility must submit correction plans by Friday and have them in place by March 1 to avoid being suspended from Florida's Medicaid program.
On Dec. 21, 57-year old Barbara Dawson died of a blood clot in her lungs after collapsing in the hospital parking lot while being handcuffed. Dawson refused to leave the emergency room after complaining of shortness of breath.
The hospital's CEO, Ruth Attaway, has released the following statement:
"We're committed to moving our hospital forward so we can provide quality health care to our residents, and this is one more step in that process. Having this information is certainly better than operating under a looming unknown factor."
