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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...
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
