Lynn Savage—a 70-year-old mom from Jacksonville, Florida—was arrested for hospital trespassing, when she refused to leave her daughter’s bedside after visitation hours had ended at UF Health North.
Lynn Savage, 70, refused to leave her daughter, Amber, while she was recovering from brain surgery. https://t.co/JKvfcWQf7I
— WLBT 3 On Your Side (@WLBT) October 13, 2021
By Her Daughter’s Side Since 6:30 am
According to a report from Action News Jax (CBS47), Savage’s daughter, Amber, was a patient of the ICU at UF Health North. She was there for brain surgery, to repair damage from a major stroke she’d suffered prior. A stroke that had left Amber non-verbal and partially paralyzed.
Savage, her mom, was there not just for support, but to communicate on Amber’s behalf.
After her surgery, Amber was frantic, and the doctor enlisted Savage’s help in calming her. “As soon as I approached the bedside, she was fine,” she told CBS47. “With all these people talking, and all these things going on, and she doesn’t understand it, and not being able to talk, she just was frantic.”
Asked to Leave, Due to Covid-19 Policies
Visiting hours at UF Health North end at 7 pm, as part of their Covid-19 policy, but when the nurse told Savage that it was time to go, she refused.
Being that Savage is a retired Deputy from the Stark County Ohio Sheriff’s Office, she knew exactly what refusal to leave the hospital would mean, and stuck to her guns.
@UFHealthJax I ask you reconsider your policy re: visiting hours for families of non-verbal patients. Heartbreaking story re Ms. Lynn Savage and her partially paralyzed daughter. Pls find compassion https://t.co/KqVhWe1zk7
— kt Schildgen (@cschildg) October 13, 2021
“I said I’m not going to leave. I want to stay here with my daughter,” Savage recounted. “Can you call the doctor because the doctor is the one that wanted me here with her? And she said no that they couldn’t do that that COVID rules said that visiting hours were over at seven.”
Since Savage maintained her refusal, the cops were called.
Arrested for Hospital Trespassing, with 24-Hours In Jail
Savage told CBS47 that the police officers were very polite, and attempted to change her mind for a full two hours before arresting her.
JSO provided their full arrest report for the news inquiry, which stated that Savage told the officer “she would have to be removed by force”, that he tried to reason with her again once outside the hospital, and that she refused on “principle”.
For the crime of wanting to be by her daughter’s side after major surgery, not yet knowing if she was completely out of the woods, Savage spent the night in jail.
“I could not in good conscience and good heart leave her bedside not knowing how she was going to make it through the night voluntarily,” Savage said. “I stand by my actions 100 percent. I am not sorry that I made them take me out of there in handcuffs.”
Would you have left the hospital and just returned in the morning? Did you know that they arrest the family of patients for hospital trespassing? Let us know in the comments below.
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