BlogHer - Woman Dies on Emergency Room Floor, While Ignored By Staff - Comments

A Nurse Speaks

makeupgal — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:45:54 -0500

As a nurse, I am amazed, dumbfounded, horrified, but most of all; embarrassed to say at this moment that I am in the medical field. I spend my days and nights taking care of other's mothers, sisters, fathers and daughters, children and grandparents. I RAN when one of our older patients decided to get up for a walk and exit a locked door. I was there in 3 seconds. That is the oath I took, The Nightingale Pledge, to do everything I knew how to, and is within my scope of practice, to always help and never harm a patient. I know there are much busier hospitals, esp. NYC, that I, as a CA native and never working in LA or Sac., have not seen any conditions such as that woman being ignored by so many people! That is a huge part of what bothers me, that it was not just one guard, but many people were involved in the 'ignoring' of that patient.

I can only hope that even a large city can learn how to do better assessing of patients. We don't know why that woman was there, and I'd love to hear the video sound. There is still no reason why the first person that saw her go down, (excluding other patients, as we don't know their status medically), did not walk the few steps to her and do more than look. Just don't understand it!

EMERGENCY ROOMS

jerina — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:50:23 -0500

this is a subject that really hits home for me...I recently had to bring my daughter to the emergency room on sunday (4th of july weekend) and when we walked into the er there were people everywhere. I resolved to spending the night there. But, it didn't take that long only an hour I was releived but, then saddened by the other patients until I realized that they probably didn't have insurance and my daughter did. I think that judging people due to there health insurance status is appauling and this country needs to be more sympathetic to those out there that are living paycheck to paycheck and get sick. having no insurance doesn't minimize their level of illness so it shouldn't minimize the level of health care..that woman probably didn't have insurance so she was cast aside to wait until someone cared enoughed to take care of her..unfortunately for her no one did..it is sickening (no pun intended) to see this great country becoming so heartless to those less fortunate than others.

I am shocked!

limevelyn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:16:35 -0500

Oh my...I am shocked to read this! It's my first time coming across a news like it. What an unfortunate incident!

Evelyn

Break Free from Limiting Beliefs

It's tragic

Candelaria Silva — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:47:14 -0500

There have been so many stories of people ignored in emergency rooms, on th street (remember the man who was hit by a car and left to die recently), etc. In Boston a few years ago, a man broke his leg when he fell in a hole near the edge of a major thoroughfare and it took more than an hour before someone helped him get up. People kept walking by him because they thought he was homeless.

A lot of times people don't want to get involved. Other times people have become so jaded that they don't help. Some of the people who work in hospitals and other places that are supposed to be about helping - shouldn't have the jobs or have become burned out and need to move on to something else.

Remember the little boy who called the emergency room in Atlanta and the operator told him to "stop playing on the phone." Someone died in that case because they operator didn't believe the child's assertion that his Mom needed help.

And yet, everyday there are people who offer assistance and sometimes lost their lives in doing so.

I know that some people are viewed to be less than worthy by our society and institutions usually treat them as a type rather than as a unique, human being who deserves to be attended to.

blog.candelariasilva.com

Good and plenty!

Have you read Zan's post on being ignored on the train?

Vered — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:03:29 -0500

She almost fainted, was obviously in distress, yet no one offered to help.

Nobody Asked Me if I was Okay

Vered DeLeeuw

http://momgrind.com/

Woman Dies on Emergency Room Floor, While Ignored By Staff

Catherine Morgan — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 03:48:38 -0500

The video and tragic story of a woman waiting for over 24 hours in a psychiatric emergency room, before falling to the floor and dying, has been all over the news. The worst part of this story, is that so many people stood by and watched for almost an hour, and none of these people made any attempt to help this poor woman. What does this say about our society?

It also brings up many other questions. Are people with mental health issues treated differently than people with other health problems? Does our healthcare system discriminate against the mentally ill? And, why in the world are people waiting in an emergency room for over 24 hours before being seen? Is this another symptom of our broken healthcare system? Can it be fixed?

When I first heard about this tragedy, I thought about a post I wrote almost two years ago...

Has The World Lost It's Empathy?

Here is what other women bloggers are saying...

Kat from My Two Cents...

I am normally not one to wish harm on others but I really hope that wicked bad karma befalls all of the horrible people watching on as someone amongst them died without summoning help. Health care should be a right not a privilege!

Kitty from Today's Rant...

How dare they call themselves a hospital emergency room, or even doctors and nurses---someone needs to remind them of their creed "FIRST DO NO HARM" not "if you are busy let'em die" sickening, totally sickening!!!!

From Deborah at Forgotten Future's Weblog...

The behavior of the staff of Brooklyn’s KIngs County Hospital didn’t surprise me. Oh, like most, I immediately had many visceral reactions–most strongly among them disgust, frustration, shock–after watching the video that shows an unidentified woman falling out of a chair to the floor, struggling weakly, but being unable to get up, and finally dying, dying, while hospital staff–security guards, aides, nurses, and a doctor–ignored the woman’s distress for more than an hour. But I know that many–okay, I’ll say most–of the staff employed in psychiatric facilities routinely attribute all behavior to psychiatric/psychological reasons. In other words, doctors, nurses, mental health techs, et al, believe that anything a psych patient does is done solely to manipulate or to gain undeserved attention. Complaints offered up by patients are seen as attempts to gain some sort of unfair or undeserved privilege or sympathy or perk or even just the thrill of knowing that the patient has “put one over” on the staff.

This is from Jane at Injury Board...

The Green story is not over. Indications are that someone tried to cover-up the circumstances of her death. One notation in her record says that at 6 a.m. she is “awake, up and about” and had used the restroom. It says that at 6:20 she had normal blood pressure. Green was actually dead or dying.

From Corynne at The Black Girl Site...

On television, hospitals in the hood are the last place you want to be. Remember St. Elsewhere? Apparently it is scarier in real life. Today’s news report that a sister sat in the psychiatric emergency room of King’s County Hospital in Brooklyn, NY until she died is a case of truth is stranger than fiction. The fact that last month’s incident was caught on tape is a sad commentary on how those of us with mental illness are marginalized, dehumanized and ignored. Esmin Green, a 49 year-old woman originally from Jamaica, had a history of mental illness and had been committed the day before. She sat in the emergency waiting area for 24 hours (yup a whole day) waiting for a bed. What both shocks and saddens me is that when she this sister collapsed the behavior of the staff was outrageously neglectful. I can’t believe that security guards and staff saw this woman lying on the floor for more than an hour, clearly in distress, and did nothing. Other patients also sat there like this was par for the course (who knows maybe it is). When a nurse finally came over she didn’t bend down to see what was going on, she kicked Esmin (yes, I said kicked). This is treatment not even fitting for an animal let alone a human being. In fact, animal advocates would have your head if you kicked a dog or cat.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened either, about a year ago, something similar happened in a Los Angeles emergency room.

What did you think when you saw the video of this woman falling to the floor, and no one coming to her assistance? Could it happen in your emergency room?

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at catherine-morgan.com, The Political Voices of Women, Care2 Election