ERinger
02-06-2006, 08:06 AM
Kings say advice led them to clinic
Children describe day mother died
By ERNIE SUGGS, MAE GENTRY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/06/06
The children of Coretta Scott King, defending their decision to send her to an alternative medicine clinic in Mexico, said Sunday they were "stunned" to learn that it was shut down days after her death.
"We were shocked, because ... we did do a lot of information-gathering and spoke to people who were extremely ill and they're here to tell about it," said Yolanda King, the eldest child. "It came highly recommended. We made the decision to go, and Mother concurred, based on the fact that this place was doing incredible work and saving people's lives."
Coretta Scott King checked into the Hospital Santa Monica in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, on Jan. 26 under an assumed name. She died four days later.
Bernice King said her mother never took any treatment.
"They were very attentive. They took good care of her," she said.
Mexican health authorities suspended operations at the hospital Thursday, saying some of the staffers were not accredited and that several practices at the alternative medical facility put patients at "high risk." But the officials who ordered operations to cease said they were not alleging any specific wrongdoing in King's death.
In a wide-ranging news conference called late Sunday afternoon at Paschal's restaurant in downtown Atlanta, the four King children gathered to reveal details of their mother's last days and previously unknown health conditions. They said they were concerned about erroneous reports and wanted to correct the record.
Dexter King said the autopsy revealed that his mother died of bronchial pneumonia, a complication of ovarian cancer. King, who was 78 when she died, had been diagnosed with cancer in November, her children said.
"The cancer had been growing for a year and a half," Dexter King said, attributing the information to a forensic pathologist. "She had been diagnosed with an ovarian cyst five years ago and was told it was benign. I think she felt it would be OK."
Dexter King said his mother chose not to do anything about the cyst because, at the time, "it was not required."
He said he believed the stroke and heart attack his mother had in August might have been caused by the cancer.
Sunday's news conference was the first time all four children have spoken at length publicly about the death of Coretta King, who founded the King Center to honor her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and who helped make his birthday a national holiday.
Thousands are expected today at a daylong viewing of the body at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. It is the home church of the King family, dating back to 1894, when Martin Luther King Jr.'s maternal grandfather, the Rev. Adam D. Williams, became pastor.
The funeral will be Tuesday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, the church where Bernice King is an elder and Bishop Eddie Long is pastor.
Bernice King, who will deliver her mother's eulogy, was the only family member with her at the time of her death and recounted her last four days.
"She was basically resting. She would come in and out of her rest, open her eyes, look around and go back into her rest," Bernice King said. "I was actually in the other bed when she took her last four breaths."
She said that hospital personnel tried to resuscitate her mother, who died at 8:25 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday.
Yolanda King said she was leaving a chiropractor's office in Los Angeles, where she lives, when her sister called to say their mother had died. "I pulled over to the side of the road and we prayed," she said.
She and Dexter King, who also lives in the Los Angeles area, drove together to the town where the controversial clinic is located.
"The first thing [Yolanda] said is we've got to get down there because Bernice is by herself," Dexter King said.
Each of the children talked about their emotions upon learning of their mother's death.
"Our grieving started in August" following her stroke, said Bernice King, who said she broke down last summer in church. "I actually knew in December that my mother would die."
Martin King III was the only sibling in Atlanta at the time of his mother's death. "The first feeling was emptiness," he said.
He then flew to California on Tuesday night on Long's private plane and returned with his siblings the next morning.
Yolanda King said they all miss their mother, but are thankful that they had her for so long. "She's been released, and we feel so strongly that she has been connected with our father," she said.
For Dexter King, the timing could not have been worse: he turned 45 on Jan. 30. "It was very difficult for me because it happened on my birthday."
He began to cry at the news conference, and Bernice King consoled him. "The hardest thing is to mourn in public," he said.
Martin King III said the King family was gratified to see "the tremendous expressions of love and support," following her stroke.
"First and foremost, she was our mom," he said. "She really taught us, as children, how to love and how to forgive. Daddy was often gone . . . It was Mom who taught us the values."
Children describe day mother died
By ERNIE SUGGS, MAE GENTRY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/06/06
The children of Coretta Scott King, defending their decision to send her to an alternative medicine clinic in Mexico, said Sunday they were "stunned" to learn that it was shut down days after her death.
"We were shocked, because ... we did do a lot of information-gathering and spoke to people who were extremely ill and they're here to tell about it," said Yolanda King, the eldest child. "It came highly recommended. We made the decision to go, and Mother concurred, based on the fact that this place was doing incredible work and saving people's lives."
Coretta Scott King checked into the Hospital Santa Monica in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, on Jan. 26 under an assumed name. She died four days later.
Bernice King said her mother never took any treatment.
"They were very attentive. They took good care of her," she said.
Mexican health authorities suspended operations at the hospital Thursday, saying some of the staffers were not accredited and that several practices at the alternative medical facility put patients at "high risk." But the officials who ordered operations to cease said they were not alleging any specific wrongdoing in King's death.
In a wide-ranging news conference called late Sunday afternoon at Paschal's restaurant in downtown Atlanta, the four King children gathered to reveal details of their mother's last days and previously unknown health conditions. They said they were concerned about erroneous reports and wanted to correct the record.
Dexter King said the autopsy revealed that his mother died of bronchial pneumonia, a complication of ovarian cancer. King, who was 78 when she died, had been diagnosed with cancer in November, her children said.
"The cancer had been growing for a year and a half," Dexter King said, attributing the information to a forensic pathologist. "She had been diagnosed with an ovarian cyst five years ago and was told it was benign. I think she felt it would be OK."
Dexter King said his mother chose not to do anything about the cyst because, at the time, "it was not required."
He said he believed the stroke and heart attack his mother had in August might have been caused by the cancer.
Sunday's news conference was the first time all four children have spoken at length publicly about the death of Coretta King, who founded the King Center to honor her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and who helped make his birthday a national holiday.
Thousands are expected today at a daylong viewing of the body at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. It is the home church of the King family, dating back to 1894, when Martin Luther King Jr.'s maternal grandfather, the Rev. Adam D. Williams, became pastor.
The funeral will be Tuesday at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, the church where Bernice King is an elder and Bishop Eddie Long is pastor.
Bernice King, who will deliver her mother's eulogy, was the only family member with her at the time of her death and recounted her last four days.
"She was basically resting. She would come in and out of her rest, open her eyes, look around and go back into her rest," Bernice King said. "I was actually in the other bed when she took her last four breaths."
She said that hospital personnel tried to resuscitate her mother, who died at 8:25 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday.
Yolanda King said she was leaving a chiropractor's office in Los Angeles, where she lives, when her sister called to say their mother had died. "I pulled over to the side of the road and we prayed," she said.
She and Dexter King, who also lives in the Los Angeles area, drove together to the town where the controversial clinic is located.
"The first thing [Yolanda] said is we've got to get down there because Bernice is by herself," Dexter King said.
Each of the children talked about their emotions upon learning of their mother's death.
"Our grieving started in August" following her stroke, said Bernice King, who said she broke down last summer in church. "I actually knew in December that my mother would die."
Martin King III was the only sibling in Atlanta at the time of his mother's death. "The first feeling was emptiness," he said.
He then flew to California on Tuesday night on Long's private plane and returned with his siblings the next morning.
Yolanda King said they all miss their mother, but are thankful that they had her for so long. "She's been released, and we feel so strongly that she has been connected with our father," she said.
For Dexter King, the timing could not have been worse: he turned 45 on Jan. 30. "It was very difficult for me because it happened on my birthday."
He began to cry at the news conference, and Bernice King consoled him. "The hardest thing is to mourn in public," he said.
Martin King III said the King family was gratified to see "the tremendous expressions of love and support," following her stroke.
"First and foremost, she was our mom," he said. "She really taught us, as children, how to love and how to forgive. Daddy was often gone . . . It was Mom who taught us the values."