Image

A woman who was suspect of abusing drugs and arrested for refusing to leave a hospital died of a blood clot shortly after being put in jail, according to St. Louis Today.

Anna Brown, a 29-year-old homeless African American woman, had gone to St. Mary's Health Center in Richmond Heights, Missouri complaining of leg pain after spraining her ankle. Doctors performed an x-ray of her knees and an ultrasound, but detected no blood clots. She was given pain medication and discharged.

About eight hours later she returned to the hospital by ambulance complaining of abdominal pain. The hospital told her she had already been treated and discharged her again, but Brown refused to leave. When police officers arrived on another call, the hospital told them that Brown was claiming she "did not receive adequate medical attention and did not have to leave."

The officers said they waited about three hours before a doctor told them Brown was healthy enough to be arrested.

Brown told the officers she could not stand, so they carried her by her arms and legs. Police suspected Brown was on drugs and left her laying in her cell on the ground.

About fifteen minutes later, a jail worker found her dead. An autopsy did not find any drugs in her system.

St. Mary's Health Center has denied any wrongdoing.

"Our records show that, in this case, everything that should have been done medically was done properly. We found nothing that would have changed this tragic outcome," according to a statement.