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Video Footage Shows Woman Dying in Hospital Waiting Room While Workers Ignore Her

An incident that occurred in a New York hospital waiting room last month made national headlines yesterday after surveillance footage was released showing a 49-year-old woman collapsing at Kings County Hospital Center while workers at the hospital ignored her.

Esme Green was involuntarily admitted to the hospital?s psychiatric emergency department on June 18 for ?agitation and psychosis.? According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, however, Green was made to wait almost 24 hours for treatment. The group is also accusing the hospital of falsifying records to conceal the duration of time Green was on the floor unattended.

The video footage shows Green, on June 19 at 5:30 am, rolling off a chair in the waiting room and landing on the floor face-down while convulsing. She stopped moving a little over half an hour later. Hospital workers are seen ignoring her the entire time. It isn?t until around 6:35 am that the footage shows a worker nudging Green with her foot. Help was called for about three minutes later.

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation has expressed shock and distress about the incident and they terminated six workers following a preliminary investigation.

In an unrelated case, Mental Hygiene Legal Service and the New York Civil Liberties Union sued the hospital in Federal court last year because of allegedly filthy conditions at the hospital. The plaintiffs reported that patients were frequently forced to sleep on floors and chairs covered with blood, urine, and feces when waiting for beds. They lawsuit also alleged physical abuse and use of medication to keep patients calm.

If there is evidence that a hospital, a doctor, or a health care provider acted negligently or carelessly to cause your loved one?s death, you may be entitled to wrongful death recovery for your loss. In North Carolina and South Carolina, our wrongful death law firm can assist you.

Tape shows woman dying on waiting room floor, CNN.com, July 1, 2008

Investigators probe death of woman in Brooklyn hospital, Newsday.com

Related Web Resources:

Times acquires tape excerpts showing King-Harbor staff ignoring dying patient, Los Angeles Times, July 2, 2008

Kings County Hospital Center

New York Civil Liberties Union

Full post as published by North Carolina Injury Lawyer Blog on July 02, 2008 (boomark / email).