Lisa McPherson (February 10, 1959 – December 5, 1995) was an American Scientologist who died in the care of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater, Florida. After a minor traffic accident where McPherson seemed unharmed, she removed her clothes in the street and paramedics transported her to a local hospital. In order to avoid psychiatric intervention, local Scientologists convinced her to leave the hospital and seek care at the nearby Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization (FSO). There she was held against her will for 17 days without any medical care, while her physical and mental condition rapidly deteriorated and she died. Following the report by the state medical examiner that indicated that McPherson was a victim of negligent homicide, FSO was indicted on two felony charges, "abuse and/or neglect of a disabled adult" and "practicing medicine without a license." The charges were dropped after the state's medical examiner changed the cause of death from "undetermined" to an "accident" on June 13, 2000. A civil suit brought by McPherson's family was settled on May 28, 2004.
Background In 1994, Lisa McPherson, who became a Scientology adherent at age 18, moved from Dallas, Texas, to Clearwater, Florida, with her employer, AMC Publishing, which was at that time owned by Bennetta Slaughter and operated and staffed primarily by Scientologists. During June 1995, the Church of Scientology placed McPherson in an "Introspection Rundown" due to perceived mental instability. McPherson completed the process, and she attested to the state of "Clear" in September.
On November 18, 1995, McPherson was involved in a minor car accident. Paramedics initially left her alone because she was ambulatory, but after she began to remove her clothes, the paramedics decided to take her to the hospital. McPherson remarked to the paramedics that she had taken off her clothes in hopes of obtaining counseling. Hospital staff agreed that she was unharmed, but recommended keeping her overnight for observation. Following intervention by fellow Scientologists, McPherson refused psychiatric observation or admission at the hospital and checked herself out after a short evaluation. Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Frank Quesada concluded:
McPherson was then taken to the Fort Harrison Hotel, also known as the Flag Land Base, where she was put under the care of staffers belonging to the Church's Flag Service Organization (FSO). According to Scientology, McPherson was brought to the Fort Harrison Hotel for "rest and relaxation". However, sworn statements demonstrate that she was brought there for another Introspection Rundown. Mark McGarry, an attorney with the Florida Office of the State Attorney, characterized McPherson's care under the FSO as an "isolation watch":
Scientology accommodated McPherson in a cabana and kept a "24 hours' watch" over her. Detailed logs were kept on her day-to-day care. These logs were handwritten on plain white paper. Most of these logs were kept, but the logs for the last three days were summarized from the originals and the originals were shredded. Brian J. Anderson, the then Commanding Officer of the Church's Office of Special Affairs (OSA) in Clearwater, said in his sworn statement:
McPherson's "care logs" narrate the last seventeen days of her life: she was incoherent and sometimes violent, her nails were cut so she would not scratch herself or the staff, and she bruised her fists and feet while hitting the wall. McPherson was given natural supplements and the drug chloral hydrate to help her sleep. A Church staffer noted that she "looked ill like measles or chicken pox on her face." On repeated occasions, McPherson refused food and protein shakes that the staff offered. On November 26 and 30 and December 3 to 4, Church staff attempted to force feed her, noting that she spat the food out. McPherson was noted to be very weak, not standing up nor on some days moving at all. Scientologists who questioned this handling were told to "butt out".
On December 5, 1995, Church staffers contacted David Minkoff, a Scientologist medical doctor who twice prescribed McPherson Valium and chloral hydrate without examining her. They requested for him to prescribe an antibiotic to McPherson because she seemed to have an infection. Minkoff refused, stating that she should be taken to a hospital and he needed to see her before prescribing anything. They objected, expressing fear that McPherson would be put under psychiatric care. Dr. Janice Johnson, a senior medical officer at the Fort Harrison Hotel who was assigned to care for McPherson, stated that she had been gasping and had labored breathing while en route. However, they passed a total of four hospitals along the way to their ultimate destination.
When they arrived at Minkoff's hospital forty-five minutes north of Clearwater, McPherson exhibited no vital signs. Hospital staff attempted to resuscitate her for twenty minutes before declaring her dead.
Scientologists called McPherson's family to say that she had died of meningitis or a blood clot while at the Fort Harrison Hotel for "rest and relaxation". A suspicious death investigation began the next day and an autopsy was performed. One year later, in response to a Clearwater Police Department website request for information on her death, Clearwater media began speculating about the causes of McPherson's death. Regular pickets have taken place outside Scientology offices on or around the anniversary of her death in the years since.
At the time of McPherson's death, Mike Rinder was a Sea Org member and an official with the church's Office of Special Affairs. He left the church in 2007 and later claimed that church leader David Miscavige personally supervised McPherson's case before her death, quoting Miscavige's sister-in-law as stating that "he was the one who ordered she be declared Clear before she had her psychotic episode." Rinder wrote that, during the legal proceedings that followed, Miscavige targeted Sea Org members who knew of his involvement with McPherson's case, reassigning them to geographically-isolated posts, in order to keep them from testifying or responding to subpoenas.
Coroner's report and review
First coroner's report On December 5, 1995, McPherson's autopsy was conducted by assistant medical examiner Robert Davis. Davis never completed McPherson's autopsy report because he was asked to resign from his position. The report identified McPherson's cause of death as a thromboembolism of the left pulmonary artery caused by "bed rest and severe dehydration", ruling the manner of death as "undetermined". The report also identified multiple bruises, an abrasion on the nose, lesions and insect bites that appeared consistent with that of a cockroach. The autopsy report was completed by Davis’s supervisor, medical examiner Joan Wood.
On January 21, 1997, Wood appeared on the news program Inside Edition and stated that the autopsy showed McPherson's condition had deteriorated slowly, going without fluids for five to ten days, was underweight, had cockroach bites and was comatose from 24 to 48 hours before she died. Scientology's legal team proceeded to sue Wood to gain access to her files; including tissue, organ and blood samples from McPherson's body. The lawsuit argued that Wood waived any right to keep her records on the case closed when she spoke openly about the case with news reporters. Scientology alleged that the records were needed to start their legal defense. These records were previously denied to the Church because they were part of an ongoing criminal investigation.
Independent opinion The St. Petersburg Times contacted five medical experts for their opinions about the report, and they confirmed Wood's opinion. Scientology responded that the five doctors should have been given the entire autopsy report, not just the vitreous fluid tests, which pathologists use to determine the composition of blood at the time before death.
Scientology hired forensic pathologists Scientology hired its own team to oppose Wood's findings, including two nationally known forensic pathologists: Dr. Michael Baden, a former chief medical examiner for New York City; and Dr. Cyril Wecht, a county coroner from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Baden and Wecht concluded that McPherson died suddenly and unpredictably of a blood clot in her left lung that originated from a knee bruise she suffered in the minor car accident seventeen days earlier.
This scientific evidence was then sent to Wood for review. The scientific evidence sent to Wood included: Research on compounds known as ketones, which people produce when they are dehydrated, starving or even fasting. Tests of McPherson's bodily fluids showed no ketones according to the pathologists. Findings from a body measurement expert hired by the church. The Church-hired expert compared autopsy photos of McPherson with those taken shortly before the accident. The expert concluded from the photographs there was "no appreciable weight loss", countering the prosecution's view that McPherson lost to while in Scientology's care. A report by a Morton Plant Hospital doctor and Church officials who saw McPherson just before she entered the Fort Harrison Hotel, stating McPherson was already thin with protruding cheek bones. A report by Robert D. Davis, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy for Wood's office, concluded McPherson's body was of average nutritional status. Medical literature and sworn testimony gathered by the church that it says proves the eye fluid samples were improperly handled by Wood's office, incompetently tested at an independent lab and ultimately contaminated.
The plaintiff's response was that the chain of custody of evidence was not broken (also corroborated by assistant State Attorney Douglas Crow's memo to State Attorney Bernie McCabe).
Due to the vitreous fluid tests, Baden and Wecht maintained that McPherson was dehydrated. Chemical pathologists Calvin Bandt and Werner Spitz concurred with the initial coroner's report in their affidavits. Plaintiff witness Dr. Alan Wu also testified that ketones need not be present for dehydration in a special case like McPherson where she was fed proteins and therefore didn't create measurable ketones. The plaintiffs maintained that McPherson did lose water weight to result in with respect to the vitreous fluid.
Final coroner's report In light of the new scientific evidence provided by Scientology, a review was mandated. The policy stated that the medical examiner will "readdress key issues" in a case if "credible new evidence is presented, regardless of its source." After the review, Wood changed the cause of death from "undetermined" to an "accident." Wood stated that McPherson's psychosis and auto accident were major factors to the development of the fatal pulmonary embolism.
Criminal case review Wood's revised report caused the review and subsequent dismissal of the criminal case concerning McPherson's death. The review was done by assistant State Attorney Douglas Crow and was outlined in the 31-page memo that he sent to State Attorney Bernie McCabe, with a recommendation to drop the criminal case against Scientology.
The initial autopsy Crow stated that there were credibility issues with the original autopsy, including that Wood signed the autopsy herself, five months after Davis's departure, she failed to examine tissue samples and did not consult clinical experts before reaching her conclusion. He also pointed out two other mistakes made by Wood, such as, she released the autopsy report on an active-criminal case and went public on national media.
Robert Davis's testimony