Jul 1, 2008 11:00 am US/Pacific
Hospital Video Shows Dying NYC Woman Neglected
Records Claim At 6:20 Patient 'Sitting Quietly In Waiting Room,' Though She Was Already Dead
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Surveillance video footage from Kings County Hospital shows a woman dying on the floor of a psychiatric emergency room while security guards and staffers do nothing about it.
The death is now the subject of a lawsuit, reports CBS station WCBS-TV in New York.
The shocking video, shot on June 19, shows 49-year-old Esmin Green, who was taken to the unit for "agitation," keeling over, out of her chair at 5:32 a.m. She'd been sitting just a few feet from an observation widow.
Other patients who were in the room ignored her, as do two security guards.
Green is seen lying face down on the floor when a security guard walks by at 5:53. The guard looks at her for some time, then walks away.
Worse than that, the surveillance tape suggests the hospital staff may have falsified medical charts to cover up the lack of treatment. At about 6 a.m. Green is still seen on the floor, while her medical chart said she was "awake, up and about, went to the bathroom."
Green stops moving at 6:08.
A female patient finally brings a security guard to check the woman. Only then do staff members with a crash cart respond to patient.
Green's medical chart claims she was "sitting quietly in waiting room at 6:20," when she was already dead.
The head of the Health and Hospitals Corporation say he was shocked and distressed by the situation. Two security guards and four staffers have been fired. Civil rights attorneys plan action later Tuesday.
The president of HHC also said that as a result of the incident, additional reforms will be put into place to ensure the care of psychiatric patients.
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