
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993                   TAG: 9307300103
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NASHVILLE, TENN.                                LENGTH: Medium

16 DAYS LATER, HOSPITAL FINDS BODY OF PATIENT

A woman being treated for a stomach ailment was missing for 16 days before a nurse came across her body three flights up - on a hospital storage floor.

Distraught relatives demanded to know Thursday how Mildred Lancaster, 69, could have been overlooked during repeated searches of Meharry-Hubbard Hospital and its grounds.

Lancaster vanished from her seventh-floor room on July 13. Her decomposing body was found on the 10th floor Wednesday by a nurse who detected a foul odor. The 10th floor has no air conditioning, and temperatures in the city have hovered in the 90s for most of the last two weeks.

Lancaster had been having problems eating and checked herself in July 11 for treatment of a stomach problem. The cause of death was listed as accidental, brought on by dehydration and hardening of the arteries, said Julia Goodin, assistant medical examiner.

The hospital said its security staff and a private security firm using tracking dogs searched the building thoroughly. Police traversed the grounds and relatives canvassed the neighborhood, near downtown.

"The investigation was a continuing one," Meharry spokeswoman Martha Robinson said. "We searched every inch of the hospital, including the grounds."

Now, hospital officials will refocus their investigation on how Lancaster reached the 10th floor. "That's one of the big mysteries, and we're presently seeking answers to that," Robinson said.

She said Lancaster was a self-admitted patient who had not been ordered confined to her room and had the freedom to move around the hospital.

Police said the body was found 100 feet from a stairwell. Elevators were programmed not to stop on the 10th floor without a security key. The floor is one of several not being used while the hospital completes a merger with Nashville's Metro General Hospital.

"She was feeble and sick," said Martha Jones, Lancaster's sister. "How'd she get to the 10th floor? She couldn't walk steps. We want to know what happened."

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB