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NPR--Morning Edition, 11/17/98
ANNOUNCER: An arraignment hearing is scheduled later this month in the felony case against the Church of Scientology for its alleged role in the 1995 death of one of its members. A Florida state attorney has charged Scientology with unauthorized practice of medicine and accused it of abuse or neglect of a disabled adult in the death of Lisa McPherson. The church contends the death was accidental and had nothing to do with Scientologists. NPR’s John Burnett reports:
JOHN BURNETT: Florida’s criminal charges against Scientology provide the most authoritative account yet of Lisa McPherson’s death, a case critics say provides a chilling glimpse inside this controversial church. Special Agent A.L. Strope of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has written an 18-page narrative drawing on medical and police records and interviews with Scientologists. It begins on 11/18/95, when Lisa McPherson had a traffic accident, then took her clothes off and walked naked down a Clearwater, Florida street. After she was taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation, a group of church officials arrived and convinced doctors to let the Scientologists care for her. For the next 17 days, McPherson, in what the affidavit calls a "severely psychotic state", was kept inside the church-owned Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater. The document says she was held against her will. McPherson’s family has filed a wrongful death suit against the church and four of its members. Dell Liebreich is McPherson’s aunt:
DELL LIEBREICH: They confined her, didn’t notify anybody; there were no medical attention. They saw her deteriorating and dying and they didn’t--they just sat there and watched her die. They didn’t even talk to her. She--they weren’t even allowed to speak to the poor girl. And any idiot would know that somebody needs attention, you know, that’s going down that fast.
BURNETT: Based on statements from McPherson’s caretakers, court papers say the 36-year-old from Dallas hallucinated, crawled, danced, soiled herself, drank her own urine, and claimed she was L. Ron Hubbard, the church’s founder. Eventually, she fell into a coma. None of the Scientologists assigned to care for McPherson was a doctor licensed to practice in Florida. Their treatment was to isolate her, watch her 24 hours, and administer prescription sedatives, aspirin, antihistamine, vitamins, and herbal supplements. The affidavit says some of the medicines were forced. Scientology bitterly rejects conventional psychiatry and prides itself on its ability to handle any problem following Hubbard’s meticulous dictates. McPherson’s treatment was called an "Introspection Rundown" which Hubbard invented to handle psychotic individuals. On December 5, Scientologists drove a comatose McPherson to a hospital 20 miles away, even though there was another hospital within blocks of the hotel. The Emergency Room doctor at the farther hospital was a church member. Agent Strope concluded, "This inexcusable delay deprived Lisa of her only opportunity of survival." The Scientologist doctor who pronounced McPherson dead described her sunken appearance as "horrific". The autopsy report lists the cause of death as a blood clot due to "bed rest and severe dehydration". Brian Anderson, Scientology’s Florida spokesman, says their forensic experts contend McPherson’s blood clot was caused by the November 18 traffic accident and the church is blameless:
BRIAN ANDERSON: The State has not charged any individual or the church with Lisa’s death, and there are no allegations that anyone intentionally harmed Lisa McPherson. This has been a difficult investigation, and the State has been operating under immense political pressure and they ultimately decided to bring what happens to be a corporate negligence charge, and in response to this situation the church has acted as any responsible citizen would act and has taken actions needed to make sure a similar situation would never happen again.
BURNETT: If the Church of Scientology is found guilty of unauthorized practice of medicine and neglect of a disabled adult, it can be fined $5,000 on each charge and the judge can order forfeiture of property. No jail time for church officials is possible. John Burnett, NPR News.
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