St. Paul Police Investigate Hospital Death: Woman, 79, Dies at St. Joseph’s
By Mara H. Gottfried, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
Dec. 22–St. Paul police are investigating how a 79-year-old woman being treated at St. Joseph’s Hospital for pneumonia died last month of head injuries.
Olivia Geller’s family asked police to investigate because they were “concerned about, what to them, appeared to be the suspicious nature of their mother’s death,” said Kathleen Flynn Peterson, the family’s attorney.
The affidavit for a search warrant to obtain Geller’s medical records from the downtown St. Paul hospital, filed in Ramsey County District Court on Wednesday, states Geller sustained her injuries in a fall, but also raises questions about that fall.
A detective points to cuts on Geller’s face and bruises on her hand as possible defensive wounds. He also refers to reports at the hospital of “trespassing, thefts, drug possession and assaults by persons not authorized to be in the hospital.”
A police investigation into a hospital death is rare, authorities said Wednesday. Usually, complaints are registered with the Minnesota Department of Health.
Geller, of St. Paul, was admitted to St. Joseph’s on Nov. 5. She was in a weakened state and had to be moved by nurses “for the simplest of adjustments”; she couldn’t get out of bed without help, the affidavit said.
On Nov. 11, a nurse checked on Geller about 3 a.m. and found her drowsy, but awake, the affidavit said. Wearing her hospital gown, she wore an oxygen mask and seemed to be resting comfortably, the nurse reported.
About 20 minutes later, the nurse found Geller naked on the floor of her room — her gown, still tied in the back and snapped at the sleeves, was on a chair on the other side of the room. Geller was wearing the oxygen mask, which had blood in it, said the affidavit filed by Sgt. Richard Munoz.
Geller had apparently struck the floor and an IV stand. She had a “bad bleed” in her brain, the affidavit said. Geller died the next day about 4:30 a.m.
Anne Sonne, a spokeswoman for HealthEast Care System, of which St. Joseph’s is a member, said Wednesday she was unaware of the police investigation.
“If there was an incident of a patient safety problem, we would try to investigate it internally and work to correct it,” she said. Sonnee said she believes an internal investigation has begun.
St. Paul police wouldn’t comment on the affidavit accompanying the search warrant.
In the two weeks before Geller died and the two weeks after, there were “numerous reports” of people trespassing at the hospital, the affidavit said. Three days after her death, two people suspected of trespassing fought with hospital security officers and were arrested, the affidavit said.
Sonnee, who hadn’t seen a copy of the affidavit, said trespassers are not a chronic problem at the hospital.
“We do sometimes have people in the hospital who have no business being in the hospital, I just don’t think it’s a huge issue,” she said.
It was not known Wednesday whether the state Health Department was investigating the Geller case. The department doesn’t comment on whether a complaint against a hospital has been made or whether it is investigating.
Since 2001, the Health Department’s Office of Health Facility Complaints has investigated five complaints against St. Joseph’s, ranging from patient care to the hospital’s maintenance. Three were substantiated — none dealing with security issues. Two were unsubstantiated.
The number of complaints investigated is similar to other hospitals in Ramsey County during the same time period.
Geller, a widow, had two children and three grandchildren. She once owned a needlework business in Highland Park with her daughter. Geller was active before she was hospitalized — she liked to bowl and had been working as a bookkeeper at her son’s business, Geller Automotive, Peterson said.
“She was a real survivor,” said Carrie Rodman, Geller’s oldest grandchild. “She lived through and fought through several bouts of cancer. If someone said she couldn’t do something, she’d turn around and do it.”
Geller was especially devoted to her family, Rodman said.
“It was never one of those things that we had to assume she loved us because she always told us,” Rodman said. “She was pretty much the perfect grandma.”
Mara H. Gottfried covers St. Paul public safety. She can be reached at mgottfried@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5262.
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