Portal:Scientology/Selected biography/8
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Lisa McPherson (February 10, 1959–December 5, 1995) was a Scientologist who died of a pulmonary embolism while under the care of the Flag Service Organization (FSO), a branch of the Church of Scientology. After a minor car accident, paramedics took McPherson to a hospital for evaluation after she appeared mentally unstable. With the assistance of fellow Scientologists, McPherson refused psychiatric observation or admission at the hospital and checked herself out after a short evaluation. After fifteen days under attendance by Scientologists at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida, the Scientologists drove her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Following her death the Church of Scientology was indicted on two felony charges "abuse and/or neglect of a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a license." The heated controversy included regular pickets outside Scientology offices on or around the anniversary of her death. Charges against the Church of Scientology brought by the State of Florida 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 her family against the Church was settled on May 28, 2004.
