Mum, 70, arrested after refusing to leave daughter’s side in hospital
A 70-year-old mum is standing by her actions after she was arrested and spent the night in jail when she refused to leave her daughter's hospital bedside.
On October 4, Lynn Savage told WFOX she was at UF Health in Jacksonville, Florida, as her daughter, Amber, recovered from brain surgery.
At around 6:30am, a doctor asked Ms Savage if she would come to her daughter's room to help calm her down following the procedure.
Amber is non-verbal and partially paralysed following a stroke, Ms Savage told the publication, adding her daughter was "frantic" following the surgery but calmed down once she approached her bed in the ICU.
Later, when a nurse told Ms Savage the hospital's visiting hours would end at 7pm, the mum insisted she was not going to leave and asked the nurse to call the doctor who had asked her to come comfort Amber.
However, Ms Savage said she was told that due to Covid-19 rules, the visiting hours were over.
“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,” she told the news station.
Ms Savage, being a retired deputy sheriff, knew what was going to happen next.
An officer from Jacksonville Sheriff's Office was called to UF Health after receiving reports of a person refusing to leave after visiting hours were over.
The arrest report, obtained by WFOX, said the hospital's security officer had "spent a couple of hours" pleading with Ms Savage to leave.
The officer, who is attached to the sheriff's department, said they explained to Ms Savage the police were called for the trespass warning and said she "understood completely" why the authorities were alerted.
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"Ms Savage was cooperative, and I placed her under arrest," the report says, WFOX reports.
"Once escorted outside the hospital, I pleaded for Ms Savage to come to reason, leave and return in the morning when visitation opened at 0900 hours. She refused for the principle that if something happens to her daughter Amber, she was forced to leave her side."
Public records show Ms Savage was booked into jail under a trespassing charge and spent the night behind bars.
In a statement to WFOX, UF Health said it could not comment on specific patients, but said policies are put in place to protect people from Covid-19 and information about visiting hours is displayed in areas visible to visitors.
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