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

[grace-land]

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=9333976

Man says he didn't detect Lynne Spalding was dead
Wednesday, November 20, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) --  ABC7 News has learned what the man who found a missing woman lying in a stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital told police.

As we first reported exclusively Tuesday, a mystery man who saw a person lying in a San Francisco General Hospital stairwell two weeks after Lynne Spalding disappeared, finally came forward.

The man is a doctor from India who's not yet licensed to practice here. UCSF confirms that he's a researcher there and San Francisco General Hospital.
 
He said the unconscious person was lying between the third and fourth floors.

The man added he didn't go near it, or touch, or move the person and that he didn't know if she was dead or alive.

Investigators say Spalding was definitely dead by that time and that her body would have been badly decomposed.

He said he didn't detect that.

Investigators tell us that was the extent of what he knew.

San Francisco police say they've now completed their probe.

The only thing they're waiting for is the medical examiner's report on the cause of death.

"I'm very curious to certainly read the medical examiner report when we finally get it and it's kind of outrageous that we don't have it yet," Spalding family lawyer Haig Harris said.

Investigators say the medical examiner is waiting for the toxicology report and that should take at least another week.

[grace-land]

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

FIND LYNNE
7 hours ago

Lynne Spalding's friends and family and legal team are still waiting for answers from the SF Sheriff's Department, SF General and the SF Medical Examiner. It has been two months since her body was found in a stairwell: found in a stairwell 17 days after she went missing from her hospital bed. We demand answers: specifically the time and cause of Lynne's death and also who will answer for this tragedy. The "re-assignment" of sheriff's deputies is far, far from adequate.
 -- David Perry, Spokesman for Lynne Spalding's Family & Friends.

 Alison McQuade posted on behalf of David Perry...

[grace-land]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/lynn-spaldings-family-wants-answers-cause-death/ncHLT/

Posted: 5:44 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013
Lynne Spalding’s family wants answers in cause of death

SAN FRANCISCO —
In December two months had passed since 57 year-old Lynne Spalding was found dead in a stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital. She had been missing from her room for 17 days. As the investigation into her disappearance continues, new questions are now being raised about when the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office will release its findings on the cause of Spalding's death.

Critics of the ME's office say it is severely understaffed and backlogged. Earlier this year, the National Association of Medical Examiners downgraded the office's accreditation from full to provisional, citing a below average turnaround time for autopsy reports.

The lawyer for Spalding's family told KTVU they are tired of waiting for the results.

"Was she dead in a day, was she dead in five days?" said attorney Haig Harris. "The Medical Examiner's office hasn't released anything except very early, on a statement saying that the death was not the result of foul play."

The ME's office has indicated it needs more time to complete toxicology work in the Spalding case.

In a recent statement a spokesman told KTVU, "The office of the Chief Medical Examiner is committed to thorough and accurate cause of death determinations.  Delays in the discovery of the remains complicate the required scientific studies and medical examinations needed to reach an accurate conclusion.  A final death certificate is issued when we are confident of the cause of death."

"The delay isn't doing anything, any good for the city and county of San Francisco," said Harris. "It just makes us look more incompetent."
 

[MuffyBee]

Lynne Spalding was failed in so many ways, imo.  Whether she did or did not have a chemical imbalance related to chronic alcohol abuse, it simply does not excuse that she died in a stairwell and there was never a thorough search.  Lynne was ill, and it to me, the hospital has a responsibility to care for patients that aren't able to care for themselves.  The article below says she was "confused and delirious that day".  The hospital failed to protect her, and thereafter, care wasn't taken to find her.  Security was reassigned and there is now new training for staff members and daily checks in the stairwells.  To me, this indicates there was a lack in the first place.    JMHO

http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Coroner-ties-hospital-stairway-death-to-alcoholism-5063318.php
Coroner ties hospital stairway death to alcoholism
December 13, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A woman found dead in a locked stairwell 17 days after she went missing from her room at San Francisco General Hospital died accidentally, probably due to a chemical imbalance related to chronic alcohol abuse, the medical examiner's office said Friday.

Lynne Spalding, 57, had been dead for days before she was found Oct. 8, San Francisco Assistant Medical Examiner Ellen Moffat said.

Spalding had been admitted to the hospital Sept. 19 with a urinary infection, and she also had an altered mental state for one to two months and weight loss for two weeks, Moffat's report said. Her laboratory test results were consistent with "alcoholic liver disease."

Two days after she was admitted, she disappeared from her hospital room. According to the coroner's report, Spalding was confused and delirious that day. She didn't know the day or time or even why she was in the hospital.

Her decomposing remains weren't found until 2 1/2 weeks later, on Oct. 8, when a maintenance worker walked down the stairwell during his quarterly inspection.

Spalding's death was an accident, the coroner's report said. The cause was listed as "probable electrolyte imbalance with delirium" due to "complications of chronic ethanolism."

David Perry, a family spokesman who knew Spalding for six years, said he had been pressing for the report's release for weeks. He also denied that Spalding ever had an alcohol problem.

"Lynne was certainly not an alcoholic nor was she in any program that I was aware of," he said.

According to the report, Spalding's dead body was clad in street clothes when it was discovered — including a black-and-white jacket, a black top, black pants, and a pair of black boots. There were no signs of injury.

An exact time of death was not determined.

Perry said he was disappointed that no time of death was released.

"The only issue is did she die on Sept. 21 or sometime later," he said. "If the answer is she died after Sept. 21, then her family and friends feel that Lynne Spalding was killed through the neglect and malfeasance of San Francisco General Hospital and the San Francisco Sheriff's Department."

In a statement released Friday, hospital spokesman Tristan Cook said a number of new measures had been put into place after Spalding's death, including daily stairwell checks and new training for security staff.
 
Several employees with the San Francisco Sheriff's Department, which provides hospital security, were reassigned after Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi acknowledged that a thorough search was never conducted for Spalding.

Although sheriff's deputies at the hospital did a "perimeter search" of the hospital's 24-acre campus within an hour of Spalding's disappearance, it was not until Sept. 30 that they attempted a more extensive search of the grounds, Mirkarimi said.

A request for a broader search came at a meeting a sheriff's supervisor had with hospital staff members including representatives of the risk management department, he said.

The next day, after it became clear that not all the stairwells used as fire exits had been searched, a supervisor ordered the stairwell searches to continue, yet "only about half the stairwells" ever were, he said.

Then, on Oct. 4, a hospital staff member told the sheriff's department someone had reported seeing a body in a locked stairwell of the building where Spalding had been a patient. A sheriff's dispatcher told hospital officials the department would respond, but "there is no indication that any one was dispatched to that stairwell."

A hospital spokeswoman said the witness who reported seeing Spalding's body in the stairwell Oct. 4 is a University of California San Francisco researcher. She said he was interviewed by authorities, but the substance of that interview has not been made public.

[grace-land]

 

Just when I thought that information regarding this case can't get worse...sad and infuriating imo!   
 

[grace-land]

IIRC, the family was not getting answers/information from the hospital from the very beginning.  I was hoping that they would get an independent second autopsy; maybe they will request one now.  I would--if she was a member of my family.  jmho

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/medical-examiner-releases-findings-spalding-death/ncKqh/

Posted: 2:48 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, 2013
Spalding family attorney calls for investigation into report on death

The attorney for the family of Lynne Spalding on Friday called for a grand jury investigation into the medical examiner’s newly released report on the death of the missing woman found in an outdoor stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital last October.

The autopsy released Friday by the San Francisco medical examiner's office reported that Spalding died of accidental causes and had been dead "some days" before she was found.

Spalding, a 57-year-old British woman, died of electrolyte imbalance, a condition that can be caused by dehydration and other conditions, with delirium due to clinical sepsis, according to the report.

Spalding, who was admitted to the hospital for treatment of an infection, suffered from complications from chronic alcoholism that contributed to her death, the report said.
 
The release of the report caught a number of people by surprise. In fact, KTVU was first to provide the report to Spalding family attorney Haig Harris.

"I am going to ask that this medical examiner answer questions about how they arrived at the conclusion that her death is secondary to alcoholism without telling us when she died and why," Harris said in a phone interview with KTVU.

Harris told KTVU he's calling for a grand jury investigation into the medical examiner’s report over those issues.

Spalding's death has triggered multiple investigations and revealed numerous lapses in the handling of her disappearance.
 

[grace-land]

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

FIND LYNNE
4 hours ago via mobile

I'm confused by the recent report - lynne was about to be released when she went missing from the hospital - after hydrating her and giving her a clear to be released she then walked out onto stairwell, never came back in, couldn't - did she die from starvation or exposure? Alison

[grace-land]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Lynne-Spalding-Woman-Found-Dead-in-SF-General-Stairwell-Official-Cause-of-Death-Revealed-235813371.html

Coroner: Lynne Spalding, Woman Found Dead in SF Hospital Stairwell, Likely Died of Complications from Alcoholism
Friday, Dec 13, 2013  |  Updated 6:58 PM PST

We now know the official cause of death of the British patient found dead in a stairwell at San Francisco General Hospital 17 days after she disappeared from her hospital room.

The city’s chief medical examiner says 57-year-old Lynne Spalding died from probable electrolyte imbalance, which is essentially dehydration, and delirium, which is known as clinical sepsis.

DOWNLOAD: Lynne Spalding’s Medical Examiner’s Report

The report says Spalding was originally in the hospital due to complications of ethanolism, which is another term for chronic alcoholism. A chemical imbalance due to alcoholism led to her death, the coroner has determined.

Spalding was admitted to the hospital for treatment of a bladder infection on Sept. 19. She disappeared two days later. On Oct. 8, her body was found in a locked, rarely used hospital stairwell.
 
-----------------------
Lynne Spalding’s Medical Examiner’s Report: http://media.nbcbayarea.com/documents/me-spalding.pdf

[texasmom]

Just when I thought that information regarding this case can't get worse...sad and infuriating imo!   
 

   ITA!   

[texasmom]

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=405082519625111&id=370247543108609

FIND LYNNE
2 hours ago

The cause of death report issued today by the San Francisco Medical Examiner is incomplete and confusing. With no mention of the date or time of Lynne Spalding's death and releasing such information late on a Friday afternoon with no advance notice to Lynne's family or representatives, the report appears designed to confuse and confound.

There is only one issue here: how long did Lynne Spalding lay suffering and dying while abandoned on a stairwell at SF General Hospital? That question is not addressed in this report. Also, the five sheriff's deputies responsible for the "non search" of Lynne after she was reported missing have been "re-assigned" with no disciplinary action yet announced. Lynne Spalding's life cannot be reassigned.

At this point, the family and friends of Lynne Spalding have little faith in answers from the three institutions charged with Lynne's welfare and answers in this case: SF General, the SF Sheriff's Department and the SF Medical Examiner.
-- David Perry, Spokesman for Lynne Spalding's Family & Friends

posted on behalf of David Perry by Alison McQuade


COMMENTS:

Moaya Scheiman Friday releases are meant to shorten the news cycle - it gets buried essentially and will not get picked up and spread -my question is simple - why is there no outside investigation? Where are the Feds? How can they agencies that are responsible and financially libel as well as criminally negligent be allowed to even touch the evidence? I would of thought the British embassy would bring some weight but seems not- perhaps the diplomatic language being used by the family and "spokespeople" is just too soft? She was murdered by employees at the hospital - and the sheriffs department is covering it up to mitigate the financial strain the eventual civil suit will cause - the thin blue line is at play here as well ... But start calling it what it is - murder ... Start saying who - hospital employee, start pointing to a cover up by the highest officials in sf - the mayor and the head of the sheriff department and demand the FBI get involved ... If not you will see Lynne become further victimized as they make her the villan of the story- already parts of the press have used snarky semiotics about employment etc ... This is a corrupt town - you can't fight this by using the very resources that have no interest in answering your questions but rather in losing and manipulating the evidence to save their employees .
Like · Reply · 4 · about an hour ago via mobile

Brenda Gail Jagger And I want to know - were the stairwell doors locked making it so she was stuck in there?
Like · Reply · 2 hours ago via mobile

Bill Spalding Moaya - The British Consulate in San Francisco has given me no assistance whatsoever. Worse than that – they promised to ring me back after I contacted them from my home in the UK asking for help to gather information and didn’t. I went to see them personally 2 days later upon my arrival in Sf and a representative would only talk to me in the communal lobby of their office block. She apologised for not getting back to me and added that she couldn’t offer any help. To my astonishment she said “I shouldn’t even be talking to you, it’s a conflict of interests”. She advised me to seek help from David Perry and promised to contact me the next day with his telephone number. I gave her my hotel details, (minutes walk along Market Street) my email address and my cell number for the phone I’d bought in the city. A multitude of people contacted me via those means during my visit but guess what? – she didn’t get back to me. She came to me at Lynne’s memorial and apologised saying she couldn't get in touch with me “on either phone somehow” but asked me if I’d spoken to David Perry. The most ridiculous thing she said to me at the memorial, to excuse their behaviour I guess, was that “no one knew you existed” and that the British Consulate and David Perry had thought I was a member of the press trying to get information. This when someone well known to Lynne and the “Find Lynne” team was working at the Consulate all along, and holding a huge photo of my twin sister as their facebook profile picture. Do you believe all that nonsense?
David has done a great job but has never represented me and I made the British Consulate well aware of this but they seemed to pander to him and implore me to do the same – go figure, I think the clue should have been in the word “British”. I can’t imagine a grieving US citizen being treated like that by the American Embassy if the raced to Britain in confusion and grief over the death of a twin in mysterious circumstances.
Like · Reply · 49 minutes ago

Dana Gilkey So very tragic and disappointing!
Like · Reply · about an hour ago via mobile

Roger Sideman This is so disappointing. Forensic "science" has become an illegitimate joke. I expect more from my city. Their report is all about saving face and money. So disappointing.
Like · Reply · 1 · 2 hours ago

[grace-land]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/local/spalding-family-angered-incomplete-medical-report/ncK5K/

Posted: 10:22 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, 2013
Spalding family angered by 'incomplete' medical report

 
In the wake of the report's release, Spalding family spokesman David Perry was furious. He spoke to KTVU shortly after reading the report.

"The cause of Lynne Spalding's death is negligence and malfeasance," said a clearly distraught Perry.

Perry had hoped to learn if Spalding suffered long in the stairwell. The medical examiner found early stages of decomposition, but didn't supply time of death. The report did note that Spalding was "deceased for some days before being found."

KTVU asked Dr. Mark Savant, an internist, to interpret the medical examiner's report into layman's terms. He said that, in short, the report stated that Spalding died from dehydration caused by infection or sepsis.

"It sounds like the sepsis set things off, and after that she was dehydrated," said Savant.

Savant couldn't say how long Spalding might have survived without water in that stairwell, but noted that her infection actually increased her need for water.

Without knowing time of death, it will be more difficult for investigators who were also waiting for the medical examiner's report to determine if Spalding's life could have been saved.

Perry said regardless what the report says, the reason Spalding died is obvious to him.

"[She was] abandoned like a piece of trash in the stairwell of SF General Hospital. [It] means she died of neglect; she starved to death," said Perry.
 

[theboyzmom]

I just read the autopsy report - and something struck me immediately. The daughter reported that she had broken her wrist and had a plate put in. This should have left a scar - on the bone in addition to the metal plate and the scar on the arm. There is noted that she has no scars.  Twice it is noted that she has no scars. Is the daughter that far off or was the ME that sloppy?

[grace-land]

When did Lynne die--before or after October 4?

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=9333976
Man says he didn't detect Lynne Spalding was dead
Wednesday, November 20, 2013

As we first reported exclusively Tuesday, a mystery man who saw a person lying in a San Francisco General Hospital stairwell two weeks after Lynne Spalding disappeared, finally came forward.

The man is a doctor from India who's not yet licensed to practice here. UCSF confirms that he's a researcher there and San Francisco General Hospital.

It was Oct. 4, two weeks after Spalding vanished from her hospital bed, that a nurse heard a man knocking on the door of an emergency stairwell on the fifth floor of the building where her body was later found. He was trying to get out onto the hospital floor.

"She let him in and said, 'What are you doing here,'" hospital spokesperson Rachel Kagan said. "'Oh, wrong stairwell; thanks for letting me in,' and then he said, 'By the way, looks like there's someone further down on the stairwell asleep, someone down there.'"

Spalding's body was found four days later in that same location.

A source close to the investigation says the researcher told them he was on the fifth floor of the stairwell.

He said the unconscious person was lying between the third and fourth floors.

The man added he didn't go near it, or touch, or move the person and that he didn't know if she was dead or alive.

Investigators say Spalding was definitely dead by that time and that her body would have been badly decomposed.

He said he didn't detect that.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Dehydration-delirium-cited-in-Lynne-Spalding-s-5063065.php
Dehydration, delirium cited in Lynne Spalding's death
Updated 11:00 pm, Friday, December 13, 2013

The autopsy report for 57-year-old Lynne Spalding, who disappeared 17 days before her body was discovered in the little-used stairwell near her room on Oct. 8, does not reveal exactly when she died, saying only that she "was deceased for some days before being found."

[grace-land]

I just read the autopsy report - and something struck me immediately. The daughter reported that she had broken her wrist and had a plate put in. This should have left a scar - on the bone in addition to the metal plate and the scar on the arm. There is noted that she has no scars.  Twice it is noted that she has no scars. Is the daughter that far off or was the ME that sloppy?

I noticed that, too, and was wondering how he missed that during the autopsy.
 

[grace-land]

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Attorney-angered-at-report-on-S-F-General-5065537.php

Attorney angered at report on S.F. General patient's death 
Updated 6:06 pm, Saturday, December 14, 2013

(12-14) 17:44 PST San Francisco -- The attorney for the family of a woman who died in a San Francisco General Hospital stairwell lashed out Saturday at the city Medical Examiner's office for suggesting the victim's death stemmed from chronic alcoholism.
 
The report's comment was "a cheap shot and a non-medical one at that," Haig Harris, who represents Spalding's family, said in an interview.

"The bottom line is she didn't have fluids for any number of days from the day she went out (from her room) until the day she died - they were trying to make it as though she was a woman who as going to die anyway," he said. "It's absurd. None of it makes any sense. She did not die from alcoholism."

No one at the Medical Examiner's office was available for comment Saturday.
 
Harris bristled at what he said was blaming Spalding's death on her drinking.

"This woman died of exposure - either from starvation or dehydration," he said. "To suggest alcoholism was involved is an outrageous, gratuitous comment."

The mention of Spalding's chronic alcoholism "demeans the memory of this woman, without telling us when she died, how long she was out there suffering," Harris added.

He said that Spalding drank wine nightly and had obviously suffered weight loss from not eating.

"She wasn't eating well, drinking her wine and not eating well," Harris said.

Spalding had been in a state of confusion and disorientation at the hospital on the day she vanished, the medical examiner's report found.

[Sister]

I just read the autopsy report - and something struck me immediately. The daughter reported that she had broken her wrist and had a plate put in. This should have left a scar - on the bone in addition to the metal plate and the scar on the arm. There is noted that she has no scars.  Twice it is noted that she has no scars. Is the daughter that far off or was the ME that sloppy?

I noticed that, too, and was wondering how he missed that during the autopsy.
 

This whole thing stinks to high heaven -- they are definitely doing a "cya" dance!
 

[MuffyBee]

I just read the autopsy report - and something struck me immediately. The daughter reported that she had broken her wrist and had a plate put in. This should have left a scar - on the bone in addition to the metal plate and the scar on the arm. There is noted that she has no scars.  Twice it is noted that she has no scars. Is the daughter that far off or was the ME that sloppy?

I noticed that, too, and was wondering how he missed that during the autopsy.
 

IMO Lynne Spalding was failed in so many ways, not to mention the CYA on top of it.   

This whole thing stinks to high heaven -- they are definitely doing a "cya" dance!
 

  

[MuffyBee]

I just read the autopsy report - and something struck me immediately. The daughter reported that she had broken her wrist and had a plate put in. This should have left a scar - on the bone in addition to the metal plate and the scar on the arm. There is noted that she has no scars.  Twice it is noted that she has no scars. Is the daughter that far off or was the ME that sloppy?

I noticed that, too, and was wondering how he missed that during the autopsy.
 

IMO Lynne Spalding was failed in so many ways, not to mention the CYA on top of it.   

This whole thing stinks to high heaven -- they are definitely doing a "cya" dance!
 

  

Whoops, I messed up the quote stack. Sorry I got in your box, Sister.   

[yuknomenot]

When did Lynne die--before or after October 4?

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=9333976
Man says he didn't detect Lynne Spalding was dead
Wednesday, November 20, 2013

As we first reported exclusively Tuesday, a mystery man who saw a person lying in a San Francisco General Hospital stairwell two weeks after Lynne Spalding disappeared, finally came forward.

The man is a doctor from India who's not yet licensed to practice here. UCSF confirms that he's a researcher there and San Francisco General Hospital.

It was Oct. 4, two weeks after Spalding vanished from her hospital bed, that a nurse heard a man knocking on the door of an emergency stairwell on the fifth floor of the building where her body was later found. He was trying to get out onto the hospital floor.

"She let him in and said, 'What are you doing here,'" hospital spokesperson Rachel Kagan said. "'Oh, wrong stairwell; thanks for letting me in,' and then he said, 'By the way, looks like there's someone further down on the stairwell asleep, someone down there.'"

Spalding's body was found four days later in that same location.

A source close to the investigation says the researcher told them he was on the fifth floor of the stairwell.

He said the unconscious person was lying between the third and fourth floors.

The man added he didn't go near it, or touch, or move the person and that he didn't know if she was dead or alive.

Investigators say Spalding was definitely dead by that time and that her body would have been badly decomposed.

He said he didn't detect that.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Dehydration-delirium-cited-in-Lynne-Spalding-s-5063065.php
Dehydration, delirium cited in Lynne Spalding's death
Updated 11:00 pm, Friday, December 13, 2013

The autopsy report for 57-year-old Lynne Spalding, who disappeared 17 days before her body was discovered in the little-used stairwell near her room on Oct. 8, does not reveal exactly when she died, saying only that she "was deceased for some days before being found."

Who does this!?  Who sees a person prone in a hospital stairwell and doesn't, at the very least, get a bit closer to check.  Who sees a person prone in a stairwell in a hospital gown (?) and doesn't immediately check and then make certain that that person gets help.  What medical professional actually working in a hospital doesn't immediately take steps to get a prone person in a stairwell help.  Why aren't the researcher and the nurse brought up on charges, there must be a slew of charges that would fit.  That researcher should be out of the medical field legally and forever then deported for his lack of common decency and sense of humanity.  This entire situation is insane and it keeps getting worse.  The nurse should have her license revoked and never be allowed to work anywhere again.  Actually, they should both be locked up for life. 

[grace-land]

Good article. As more information is coming out, unfortunately, it is sounding worse and worse. It seems that the hospital has failed Lynne on so many levels. 

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/How-S-F-General-lost-track-of-Lynne-Spalding-5122645.php

How S.F. General lost track of Lynne Spalding
Updated 8:02 pm, Tuesday, January 7, 2014

(01-07) 19:59 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco General Hospital was supposed to be keeping a round-the-clock watch on the patient who disappeared and was later found dead in a stairwell at the medical center, but there was no monitor on duty when the woman walked away, the family's attorney said Tuesday.

The hospital had assigned a monitor to Lynne Spalding after staff members disconnected an alarm from a bed that was supposed to sound when the 57-year-old San Francisco woman tried to leave, said the attorney, Haig Harris, citing accounts from San Francisco General officials. The officials told Spalding's family that the alarm had been disabled because she was repeatedly getting out of her bed, Harris said.

The monitor was not with Spalding when she walked away the morning of Sept. 21 from her fifth-floor room, where she was being treated for a urinary-tract infection, Harris said.