On June 19th, Esmin Green, a native of Jamaica who had been involuntarily brought to King County Hospital in Brooklyn due to 'agitation and psychosis', died on an emergency waiting room floor after waiting nearly 24 hours for a bed.
Security cameras show her falling off her chair and convulsing. At no time did staff respond to her distress. Then she went still. For nearly an hour she lay on the floor dead until finally someone came up and nudged the body with a foot and called for assistance.
By that time, it was far too late.
On top of that, staff falsified the records regarding the timeframe, making it seem like she was sitting quietly in her chair at the time she died.
Seven members of the staff have been fired or suspended: the chief of psychiatry, chief of security, a doctor, two nurses and two security guards. I don't think that's enough. The hospital has a history of problems, including a recent lawsuit alleging a poor standard of care and lack of basic sanitation.
Did this woman die because she was black, because she was mentally ill, or because she didn't have any money, or simply because of an environment of neglect and malpractice? I don't know. They're still investigating how she died, for that matter. But this mother of six who came to this country for better opportunities found precious little on a cold hospital floor.
Here is the LINK to the official story.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
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