Lisa McPherson
From End The Cult
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| Born: | February 10th, 1959 |
| Joined: | 1977 |
| Died: | December 5th, 1995 |
| Cause: | Pulmonary embolism caused by dehydration and extended bed rest |
Lisa McPherson was a Scientologist who became widely known after her death under the care of Scientology on 5 December 1995. Lisa is regularly cited by critics of Scientology as an example of what they call the "abusive practices and procedures" practiced by the Church.
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Background
Born on the 10th of February, 1959, Lisa lived her early life in Dallas, Texas. She became a Scientologist at the age of eighteen in 1977. For a brief period during the 1980s, she lived in California before moving back to Dallas.
In 1991 Lisa, along with many other Scientologists, wrote a letter of application [1] to join the Cult Awareness Network. This appears to have been part of what Dan Leipold, a former lawyer for the Cult Awareness Network, called "an orchestrated effort" to take over the Cult Awareness Network on behalf of the Church of Scientology [2]. This effort, after extensive and numerous litigation procedures, resulted in the Cult Awareness Network being forced to file for bankruptcy. The Cult Awareness Network is currently being operated by the Foundation for Religious Freedom - a Scientology-related entity.
In 1994 Lisa moved to Clearwater in Florida where she was employed as a sales representative for Agent Media Corporation (also known as AMC Publishing). During this year Lisa spent $75,275 on Scientology services and courses. She also made tax-deductible donations totaling $55,000 [3].
On 24 April 1995, the Tampa Tribune published a letter written by Lisa. She wrote:
"I work for a company that has been using this technology for years, and we have continued to expand and do well as a result. My own personal income has increased over the past five years without ever dropping, and I just got promoted because of the application of all this information."
Allegedly Lisa was instructed to write this letter and given advice on how to do so[4]. The following October Lisa attained the state of Clear[5].
Lisa's death
Lisa was involved in a car accident on 18 November 1995. Although uninjured by the accident, her behaviour, getting out of her car, removing her clothes, and beginning to walk down the street, suggested mental instability [6]. When asked by paramedics why she had taken off her clothes Lisa replied "I wanted help. I wanted help." [7] Lisa was taken by ambulance to Morton Plant Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. However, after several Scientologists arrived, she checked out of hospital against medical advice and was taken to the Fort Harrison hotel for 'rest and relaxation.' Lisa's refusal to accept psychiatric help was most likely due to her Scientology beliefs which regard psychiatry as a damaging pseudoscience.
The final 17 days of Lisa's life were spent undergoing the Introspection Rundown, a procedure devised by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to "calm a person in the throes of psychosis" [8]. During this time Lisa was "hyperactive, delusional and hallucinating" and "had conversations with people who were not there, claimed to be people she was not, sang and danced around the room as if giving a performance, crawled around on the floor, stood on the toilet, got in the shower fully clothed, tried to walk out of the room in a state of undress and on at least one occasion drank her own urine" [9]. Throughout this period Lisa was being watched by Scientologists who took detailed notes of the events [10].
Lisa's medical condition continued to deteriorate. On 5 December 1995 Scientology staffers contacted Dr. Minkoff, a Scientologist, who advised them to take Lisa to the nearest hospital. Rather than take Dr. Minkoff's advice, the Scientology staffers took Lisa to New Port Richey, the hospital where Dr. Minkoff worked; this hospital is located 45 minutes away from the Fort Harrison hotel. The Scientologists did this out of a fear that Lisa would be admitted to a psychiatric ward if they brought her to another hospital. Lisa was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Aftermath
An autopsy was performed on the 6th of December by Joan Wood. Her report concluded that Lisa died from a pulmonary embolism caused by bed rest and severe dehydration. Also detailed in the report was the presence of "several crusted confluent dark brown lesions consistent with ‘insect/animal bites'" [11]. Dr. Wood, with reference to the insect bites, stated on air that "No, they are not mosquito bites. They appear to me to be cockroach bites." The Church of Scientology responded by suing Wood for defamation.
After extensive litigation all charges were dropped against the Church [12]. A civil suit brought against the Church by the McPherson family was settled in May of 2004 with the terms being undisclosed [13].
After the controversy surrounding Lisa's death, the Church of Scientology introduced what has become known as the Lisa McPherson clause. This is a document grants the Church "the right to hold its members in isolation indefinitely, and absolves it of any responsibility for a member's injury or death as a result" [14].
Lisa's death has also been commemorated through candlelight vigils [15] and protests.
See Also
References
- ^ http://www.lisamcpherson.org/lisa.htm
- ^ http://www.rickross.com/reference/newcan/newcan15.html
- ^ http://www.factnet.org/Scientology/arsWeekInReview/wir1-35.html#10
- ^ http://www.whyaretheydead.net/temp/tt961222.htm
- ^ http://www.truthaboutscientology.com/stats/source/source099.html
- ^ http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/07/01/sci_psy/
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E2DE1F3AF932A35751C1A961958260
- ^ http://www.sptimes.com/News/030900/TampaBay/Scientologists_decry_.shtml
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E7D81231F937A25752C1A96E958260
- ^ http://www.scientology-kills.org/affidavits_docs/mcpherson_logs.htm
- ^ http://www.shipbrook.com/jeff/CoS/autopsy.html
- ^ http://www.xenutv.com/lisa/crowdroppings.pdf
- ^ http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/06/Northpinellas/Church_settlement_bri.shtml
- ^ http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Scientology/ReleaseForms/Introspection.html
- ^ http://www.archive.org/details/JeffJacobsenCandlelightvigilforLisaMcPherson12499inClearwaterFlorida_0
