NY woman dies on floor of public hospital

In a case strongly reminiscent of the death of a Los Angeles woman at the now-closed King-Harbor hospital [1], a New York City woman died writhing on the floor of an area public hospital while staff ignored her condition. The patient, 49-year-old Esmin Green, had already been waiting in the emergency department of Kings County Hospital for 24 hours at the time of her death struggle. Early in the morning, she fell face down on the floor and was left there for over an hour while security and other staff members failed to react. (Their inaction--and Green's death--were captured on a hospital surveillance tape.)

Green, who was waiting to be admitted to the hospital's psych unit, didn't get any care until someone on the medical staff was brought over by a patient in the waiting room. She had been committed to the psych unit due to symptoms of psychosis and agitation. In reality, the length of stay she faced in the ED is not that unusual [2], nor is it unusual for the patient to have been left without psychiatric support during her wait, but having her medical symptoms ignored until she died is obviously another issue entirely.

In the wake of the death, six staff members have been fired. Meanwhile, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the facility, is investigating whether staff members attempted to cover up the incident. Green's medical records contain notes suggesting that she was ambulatory during the period when the video shows her dying on the floor.

To learn more about this incident:
- read this Associated Press article [3]

Related Articles:
LA officials grapple with hospital death [1]
Study: Psych patients face especially long ED waits [2]