57 Year Old Lynne Spalding Missing Since 9/21/13 in San Francisco, CA

[Amys Sister]

I'm saddened and disappointed that a disoriented patient was missing from a hospital in only fifteen minutes and a thorough search was not done of the hallways, stairs, rooms and garage.  That would have been an easy thing to do in a relatively short amount of time.

[Green Eyes]

I'm saddened and disappointed that a disoriented patient was missing from a hospital in only fifteen minutes and a thorough search was not done of the hallways, stairs, rooms and garage.  That would have been an easy thing to do in a relatively short amount of time.

You would think that would have been what they would have done Amys Sister. It doesn't say much for the hospital does it.

[texasmom]

The family spokesman just posted this...

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=376151962518167&id=370247543108609

FIND LYNNE
5 minutes ago near San Francisco, CA via mobile
We are still awaiting official identification of a body that was discovered this morning in a stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital. A number of media were present as the body was removed this afternoon by the SF Medical Examiner. As soon as additional information becomes available, we will post it here.
-- David Perry

[klaasend]

OMG Muffy    This is unbelievable  no matter who the poor women is.  I have mixed feelings  in one breathe I hope it's Lynne Spalding and the next I hope it isn't.  Will be waiting to see who the poor women is. And if they give a cause of death. So sad 

 

When a patient goes missing, how can you not check the ENTIRE hospital?  This is so sad.  How long was she alive on that stairwell?   

[grace-land]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Body-Found-on-Rarely-Used-SF-General-Stairway-226963621.html

Body Found at SF General on Rarely Used Stairway
It was not immediately clear if SF General did a hospital-wide search for missing woman who was believed to have walked away from facility on her own.
Tuesday, Oct 8, 2013  |  Updated 2:21 PM PDT

 
All hope that she would be found alive was dashed Tuesday when a nurse happened to use the lightly used stairwell.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-stairwell-body-family-worried-20131008,0,5703954.story

Body on stairs in S.F. hospital worries missing patient's family
October 8, 2013, 7:16 p.m.


A San Francisco police officer inspects an outdoor stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital on Tuesday where a body was found. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / October 8, 2013)
 
SAN FRANCISCO -- Family and friends of  a San Francisco woman who vanished from her hospital room nearly three weeks ago fear  that a body found in a hospital stairwell Tuesday may be hers, a spokesman said.

Lynne Spalding, 57, a longtime San Francisco resident and mother of  two, disappeared from San Francisco General Hospital on Sept. 21 after being admitted two days earlier following a visit to the emergency room.

David Perry, a friend of Spalding's who has served as a family spokesman, said he spent much of Tuesday at the hospital and had been in touch with  Spalding’s 23-year-old daughter.

“She is distraught,”  Perry said.  “I would be lying if I said it doesn’t look good.”

In a statement, the hospital said an employee had found the body of a woman in an exterior stairwell at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Investigators said the woman had not yet been identified.
 
“To find out her body was here after all our searching would be very disturbing -- and not just to Lynne’s family,” Perry said. “It should be disturbing to anyone.”

Spalding was discovered missing from her room about 10:30 a.m.  Her cellphone was left on a chair. When friends came to visit her at 11 a.m., hospital staff informed them that she was she was missing, Perry said. At the time, there was a severe rainstorm.

Perry said the hospital had promised to search the premises, and he was baffled that she had not been found. He described the stairwell where the body was found as enclosed with wire mesh and open to the elements.

He said he assumed that Spalding was wearing a hospital identification bracelet, but that had not been confirmed.
 
“Someone’s family is going to be grieving tonight because a body was found in a hospital, and nobody knows how it got there,” Perry said. “It is very disturbing.”

Another friend said Spalding had lived in San Francisco for about 30 years but spoke in a British accent.  Spalding was divorced. She also had a 19-year-old son who lived with his father.

[texasmom]

OMG Muffy    This is unbelievable  no matter who the poor women is.  I have mixed feelings  in one breathe I hope it's Lynne Spalding and the next I hope it isn't.  Will be waiting to see who the poor women is. And if they give a cause of death. So sad 

 

When a patient goes missing, how can you not check the ENTIRE hospital?  This is so sad.  How long was she alive on that stairwell?   

Exactly!   

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, but I've wondered if maybe she was a smoker and went out there to smoke and got locked out?

[klaasend]

OMG Muffy    This is unbelievable  no matter who the poor women is.  I have mixed feelings  in one breathe I hope it's Lynne Spalding and the next I hope it isn't.  Will be waiting to see who the poor women is. And if they give a cause of death. So sad 

 

When a patient goes missing, how can you not check the ENTIRE hospital?  This is so sad.  How long was she alive on that stairwell?   

Exactly!   

I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, but I've wondered if maybe she was a smoker and went out there to smoke and got locked out?

As an ex-smoker that's the first thing I thought of.  It's just sad nobody checked.

[texasmom]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=376427409157289&set=a.370252066441490.1073741826.370247543108609&type=1&theater

FIND LYNNE
The news release from SF General.
44 minutes ago

[Amys Sister]

She was extremely frail.  I, too, wonder if she went out to smoke and after discovering she was locked out, could not descend the stairs in her weakened state.

[grace-land]

It seems that the sheriff's deputies didn't connect the dots--missing patient and emergency door alarm going off.  It would have been helpful if more of the hospital staff had been notified of the missing patient.  imo

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/body-found-at-hospital-may-be-missing-woman/Content?oid=2600746

Body found at hospital may be missing woman
October 09, 2013 

 
The stairwell where the body was discovered is accessed through an emergency exit, which automatically sets off an alarm when opened.

Omar Lola, 28, a radiology lab assistant who was working on the fourth floor Tuesday, told The San Francisco Examiner that every time an emergency exit is opened it sets off an alarm. Only sheriff’s deputies with a special key are able to turn off the alarm, he added.

Lola said he had not heard the alarm go off for about eight months, but he was off for a week recently so he might have missed it.

Lola and other staff that spoke with The San Francisco Examiner said no one at the hospital informed them that anyone had gone missing from a bed. They had all learned about the missing woman from the news.

Kagan said the staff in the unit where Spalding went missing had been notified and a search of the area, and the entire hospital, occurred after a nurse discovered Spalding had gone missing.

[grace-land]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/FIND-LYNNE/370247543108609

FIND LYNNE shared a link.
2 hours ago near San Francisco, CA.

It is my sad duty to report the confirmation this morning at an 11am press conference at San Francisco General the death of Lynne Spalding: her body was found -- after having been missing for 17 days -- in a hospital stairwell. For all of Lynne's family and friends, today is a day not only to grieve but to continue the search for answers: answers which will lead to solutions that will prevent a nightmare like this from every happening again.
 ---- David Perry
------------------------
Video at the link:  press conference with David Perry.  (Her room was on the 5th floor near the nurses' station)

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Body-Found-at-SF-General-Is-Missing-Woman-Lynne-Spalding-227095731.html

Body Found at San Francisco General Hospital Is Missing Woman Lynne Spalding
Wednesday, Oct 9, 2013  |  Updated 2:49 PM PDT

[klaasend]

Not unexpected but still so sad.  This should never had happened.  This hospital has a lot of explaining to do, IMO.

[MuffyBee]

Not unexpected but still so sad.  This should never had happened.  This hospital has a lot of explaining to do, IMO.

(Bolded by me)  I totally agree, Klaas.   

[grace-land]

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/10/10/foul-play-ruled-out-in-death-of-sf-general-patient-lynne-spalding/

Foul Play Ruled Out in Death of SF General Patient Lynne Spalding
October 10, 2013 1:30 PM

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – Authorities have ruled out foul play in the death of a woman whose body was found in a stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital weeks after she went missing from her hospital bed.

Lynne Spalding’s death is no longer considered suspicious, the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office said Thursday.

“That is some cold comfort at this point, but certainly we await the final determination of what was the cause of death,” said David Perry, a family friend, adding that relatives have been frustrated by the pace of the investigation.

The coroner officially confirmed Spalding’s identity on Thursday. Officials said it could be another day before investigators revealed how she died.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/sf-general-lynne-spalding-227287311.html

SF Mayor Says City Is Responsible for Lynne Spalding
Thursday, Oct 10, 2013  |  Updated 3:52 PM PDT

 
Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced Tuesday that he is hiring an independent consultant to investigate the hospital's security and search protocols.

He held a news conference at the hospital, saying the city is responsible for what happened.  He said he took the walk Spalding would have had to make to get to the stairwell where her body was found. He said the door, which Spalding would have used, sounded an alarm when he opened it today.

The exterior stairwell is actually a fire escape.

"This should not have happened. We want to prevent it from ever happening again," Lee said.

He said he called Spalding's daughter to apologize for her mother's death. Lee told reporters the word lawsuit was never mentioned during the conversation.
 

[texasmom]

Not unexpected but still so sad.  This should never had happened.  This hospital has a lot of explaining to do, IMO.

(Bolded by me)  I totally agree, Klaas.   

Me too, absolutely!   

[grace-land]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Police-baffled-how-hospital-patient-got-in-4885716.php#photo-5304673

Police baffled how hospital patient got in stairwell
Updated 6:32 pm, Thursday, October 10, 2013


At S.F. General, on the fifth floor where Lynne Spalding's bed was, this door leads to a stairwell. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

The path from a San Francisco General Hospital patient's bed to the little-used stairwell where her body was found this week - 17 days after she went missing - is a bustling, fifth-floor corridor that passes a bank of elevators, a hallway to another unit and numerous doors.

It ends at an alarm-equipped door that sounded when Mayor Ed Lee tested it Thursday as he and other city officials struggled to understand how 57-year-old Lynne Spalding could have died, unnoticed, at the city's main hospital.
 
Among the chief questions that remain to be answered are how Spalding ended up on the fourth floor of the stairwell behind the alarm-equipped door; whether the alarm sounded when she passed through; and why authorities didn't check the stairwell after Spalding was reported missing.

Considered AWOL

When Spalding left her bed, hospital officials said, she was considered AWOL, a term used to describe patients who choose to leave without being discharged. Spalding lived less than a mile from the hospital, and her loved ones put up "missing" flyers around the city after she disappeared and started a Facebook page seeking tips.

But at 10 a.m. Tuesday, a member of the hospital's engineering staff found Spalding's body during a routine quarterly check of the stairwell, which is used as a fire escape, officials said.

The San Francisco medical examiner's office said Thursday that the staff had not yet settled on a cause of death, and it remained unclear when Spalding had died. However, David Perry, a spokesman for the family, said he had been told by "independent sources connected to the investigation that foul play has been ruled out."

City and hospital officials, who called the case unprecedented, have withheld many details, citing the sensitivity of the investigation.

Perry singled out the Sheriff's Department, which provides security at the hospital, as the subject of needed scrutiny.
 

[grace-land]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/FIND-LYNNE/370247543108609

FIND LYNNE
2 hours ago near San Francisco, CA.

NEWS UPDATE, posted by David Perry:

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 CONTACT: Kathy Gorwood: 415-554-7225
 October 11, 2013
 Officer of SF Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi

SHERIFF MIRKARIMI INSISTS AN INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS REVIEW IS NECESSARY

On October 9, 2013, Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi made a request to Barbara Garcia, Director of the Department of Public Health, for an independent review of the systems which safeguard San Francisco General Hospital's patients, visitors and staff. Sheriff Mirkarimi supports Mayor Lee's request for an independent review and pledges the Department's full cooperation during this process. Sheriff Mirkarimi surveyed San Francisco General Hospital on October 8, 2013, and is profoundly saddened by this tragedy.

Sheriff Mirkarimi believes this review should address the communication and operational protocols of the Department of Public Health, the Sheriff's Department and the Police Department as they relate to notifications, hospital security and the investigation of missing persons.

Additionally, this analysis should include an in-depth assessment of the fire and life safety systems currently in use within the facility, addressing their operability, maintenance and monitoring as well as policies and procedures specifically related to disarming and resetting monitored and stand-alone alarm systems. Sheriff Mirkarimi believes this analysis should also include a review of the use and functionality of the video surveillance systems in place.

The Sheriff's Department has previously worked with outside agencies on security measures and with hospital administration staff on safety measures. We look forward to working with the independent reviewer on all aspects of the systems and procedures that secure SFGH.

The Sheriff's Department is currently conducting its own internal investigation of operations at San Francisco General Hospital to make certain such a tragedy never happens again.

 # # #

[grace-land]

http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/sf-general-hospital-review-to-be-conducted-by-uc-san-francisco/Content?oid=2602781

SF General Hospital review to be conducted by UC San Francisco
October 11, 2013

An independent review of San Francisco General Hospital's security and safety systems will be headed up by facilities and securities experts from UC San Francisco, the Mayor's Office announced Friday.

Mayor Ed Lee announced Thursday that an independent review of the hospital would be conducted to find out how a missing patient's body was discovered in a stairwell Oct. 8.

Lee did not say Thursday who would conduct the review.