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.