Gothamist: Shocking Video Shows Brooklyn Hospital's Neglect as Patient Dies in Emergency Room

laurentenney

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:32:23 -0500

VIGIL FOR MS. GREEN 7/25/06 FOR DETAILS www.theopalproject.org/vigil/html. WE THE PEOPLE ###

trc

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:55:23 -0500

Beth Haroules from Ny civil liberties union is just too funny.. who does not expect to find such conditions in New York ? New York became the cesspool of the civilized world! a thing like that could never happen in a third world country, because we may have narrower roads but at least we give a damn about our fellow man so greetings from the third world country - Croatia.

robingee

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:08:00 -0500

"No one steps in anymore. No one helps." Gothamist just reported about the lady who gave birth on the train platform and lots of people helped. It depends. But that woman who is ranting as they wheel the patient away should shut her trap, since she did nothing either.

NannyState

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:31:35 -0500

#22 has a point. Think of the context: a psychiatric emergency patient falls onto the floor and sprawls. Could be Catatonia, right? So she waits until a doctor can see her. It's happened before right? That is the plight of so many mentally ill persons. They come down with real physical maladies and all anyone sees is their psych profile. How many have died this way? It's more than heartbreaking, it's downright maddening.

west side Michael

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:06:36 -0500

Oh ! I thought she was one of those Negro corpses tied onto a streetlight pole during Katrina we saw on live TV.

cucarachita

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:35:28 -0500

Never ever EVER go to the hospital. My health plan is as follows: if I ever get a really bad illness, I take a flight to France where I can afford care full price (cheaper than with insurance here).

waitwhat

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:27:57 -0500

This is horrible. I wonder how much of this stuff goes on across the country and didn't end up on video.

Jen S

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:58:57 -0500

I'm sure they thought she was a loon who was acting out, but really...you're going to leave even a loon lying on the floor that long without checking on her? Where's the professional responsibility?

hubcap

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:25:05 -0500

"lasseiz faire" am i right.. USA greatest nation ever

Matt Joyce

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:13:22 -0500

From what little I know of this womans life, death may have been an escape.

robingee

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:57:54 -0500

also: New York Magazine rated Kings County as the #8 Best Emergency Care Hospital in 2006.

robingee

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:52:52 -0500

What is the lady in the beige outfit talking about and gesturing the whole time, I wonder?

babyhitler

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:52:24 -0500

#27- doctor's decide who lives or dies everyday. Who are they? Individuals. Hunter S. Thompson said it best when Football season was over. A burgler can end your life tomorrow. Right, Wrong. Those questions are moot. Watch Soylent Green. People would be wishing for death in suicide machines if the Earth was that overpopulated. Right Now, there is still breathing room so people can waste their lives thinking about these moralistic choices. You'll never find the answer. Thanatos will always be there regardless.

allie25

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:49:50 -0500

not saying who should live and who should die, you pious asshole, just saying, it's my personal choice not to spend my later years completley reliant on tubes and machines.

spreetaper

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:12:52 -0500

Who are you to decide who should live and die. I know plenty of people who live active lives into their 90's. I've seen plenty of people wasting away already at the age of 20. Should we be ending their lives too?

lanciano

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:05:26 -0500

>>gfrance wrote: Wow. A world of difference from Gray's Anatomy isn't it? actually i wouldn't feel safe at Seattle Grace either. with all those doctors and their love triangles and sex troubles, they barely have time to pay attention to their patients.

edEx

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:50:07 -0500

everyone who saw this and did nothing should be charged with manslaughter. nothing less.

allie25

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:48:37 -0500

i have to agree with baby hitler @ 19.

AnonEMouse

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:48:23 -0500

You think NY hospitals are bad, go to Palisades Medical hospital in North Bergen, NJ. You will wait for hours in a dirty waiting room with electricity that goes out (happened at least 3 times while I was waiting there), and a staff that doesn't give a damn. If you spoke Spanish, you were lucky-- if you don't you are up shit's creek. The bathrooms have dirt & blood smeared on everything, including the toilet & walls. The staff has no patience and could care less but if a celebrity comes in, they are all over it like white on rice (yes, this is the same hospital that George Clooney was taken to after his motorcycle accident and staff went though his files and were trying to sell his telephone number to the highest bidder). I found myself there once but never again. I'd rather have blood pouring out of my ears then get taken there again. To put the icing on the cake, I was discharged with paperwork(detailing aftercare and other important confidential info)for MARIA CRUZ-- but that's not me or MY NAME!

kafkaesque_one

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:34:30 -0500

I think the blame does rest with the professionals seen here but we do need to think about the fact that she was in a psychiatric waiting room. the fact that she was there for nearly 24 hrs sitting in that chair is abuse in itself but she could have been acting out and just like the story the boy who cries wolf, he get eaten by a fukn wolf. Who should be held responsible? All the people sitting in that waiting room doing NOTHING. Bystander apathy has taken over in todays society. No one steps in anymore. No one helps. You saw the man that got hit by a car... no one did anything. it sickens me so much to think that at any time any where that could be my grandfather. My god just the thought of losing my grandfather like that with people WALKING BY disgusts me. So blame the mental health departments. blame the doctors. blame everyone but OURSELVES (it is easier that way right?)

Jen S

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:26:42 -0500

Sky burial! Count me in. Emergency rooms are the scariest places ever.

Spiritof76

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:58:43 -0500

As soon as something hurts I'm going to go on a pot binge and either die in the tundra of the alaskan sea so Seals can eat my body or go to the himalayas and tibet so birds can eat my body in a sky burial. Promises, promises. [1] I'm sure it makes you feel better to vent this way, but for every doctor who doesn't really give a damn, there's at least one other who's doing his best and the patients are grateful to have him. Don't tar the whole profession with such a broad brush. And while we may not be the greatest country in every way or have the best health care system, remember that you can do a heck of a lot worse. How would they treat the mentally ill in Zimbabwe?

babyhitler

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:49:15 -0500

what's the alternative? for them to take care of her so she can live off the social welfare system a shell of her healthy self? The pitfalls of 20th century medicine and the new 3 meals a day diet is that we have way too many people living who should have died. They are too old and infirm to really contribute to society but are kept in zombie like states of health on drugs and life support. Death is a part of life. My grandmother should have died 5-10 years ago but she's being kept alive like a geriatric baby cause her children want her to be alive. It's worse than death to me. Drooling and slipping in and out of consciousness with no human diginity as the nursed change her diapers and clean her body. I've already got my old age routine mapped out. As soon as something hurts I'm going to go on a pot binge and either die in the tundra of the alaskan sea so Seals can eat my body or go to the himalayas and tibet so birds can eat my body in a sky burial. None of this dying in a hospital shit for me. I'm going out my way.

gfrance

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:38:50 -0500

Wow. A world of difference from Gray's Anatomy isn't it?

CO3113

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:37:09 -0500

Not really surprising. I've seen the psych ER at County and it's woefully understaffed and underfunded. Squallor is a pretty acurate word for it. 24+ hour wait times there are common. She was there waiting for an in-patient bed, which is, again, common because of the shortage of beds. The psych ER is very different compared to the regular ER and it really highlights the neglect towards the mentally ill in this (and most) countries. One thing to note, someone acutely ill should've been sent to the regular ER. The psych ER does not expect, and is ill equipped to deal patients on the brink of death. Although there are many unknowns here (we don't know what she was saying at the time, her medical history, or cause of death) there is no excuse for faking medical records and whoever wrote those notes should at least be fired. Tragic failure on many levels here. And for anyone who thinks it makes no difference if you're insured, work at a private hospital and work at a public one. It's night and day.

ilovejapgirls

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:32:57 -0500

welcome to the american health care system

AnnaZed

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:31:43 -0500

The amazing thing is that these freaks (called health workers) KNOW that the camera is there. In their minds it's only there for their protection so anything they might do is meaningless on the tape. Experience has probably proved them right on that many times, until now.

JRod5417

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:03:45 -0500

This video is the epitome of depraved indifference to human life that justifies criminal prosecution of those involved. It also underscores how shameful the healthcare "system" in this great nation of ours truly is.

interlard

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:53:10 -0500

This isn't neglect, it's manslaughter. I'm pretty sure the penalty for manslaughter isn't just to get fired or be suspended. My heart goes out to this woman's family, who now have to watch her last, suffering moments writhing in pain on the floor in front of an indifferent audience.

esquared

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:48:12 -0500

Avoid hospitals period. i,e. dont' get sick or try not to get sick.

drewo

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:46:41 -0500

You want to stay healthy? Avoid New York City hospitals at all costs.

Dude69

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:35:51 -0500

I never said having insurance would guarantee excellent care, especially in an emergency where you could wound up in any crappy public hospital. At least you have some say and choices in the quality of care and the "business" hospitals will be more attentive knowing they can be paid.

Peter

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:35:24 -0500

You don't have to be minority, or poor, or uninsured, or a psychiatric patient to die as a result of egregious medical neglect - as the case of former Times reporter David Rosenbaum shows.

babyhitler

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:31:47 -0500

note to self: Never go to a brooklyn hospital.

empec

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:28:59 -0500

This video is so completely disturbing. 24 hours waiting in the E.R.! Dude69: Having insurance doesn't make you immune to the idiocy of the healthcare business (yes, it's a business). This video explains what happened to my husband's former co-worker who's son has severe hemophilia: http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/video_story/nathan-wilkes_father-hr676-advocate_has-coverage-his-son-039-s-disease-denied Anyone who says we would be worse off with socialized medicine must be both really rich and complete delusional.

esquared

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:27:32 -0500

The guards and nurse have been suspended, and the doctor was fired Wit or without pay? How soon before they are back on the job? Their licenses should be revoked.

brooklynbs

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:25:27 -0500

There should be criminal charges arising from this incident. This incident is disgusting and I can't imagine how the bozos on duty sleep at night knowing they murdered a woman.

schadenfreudian mensch

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:24:27 -0500

@Dude69 You think having insurance will help you from dying? Insurance companies will drop you like shit once they find out you're going to cost them money. Go check out the movie "Sicko."

Dude69

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:17:33 -0500

I have heard many horror stories of emergency rooms at public hospitals, but to let a patient just lie on the floor for an hour?! It really sucks to have no insurance.

thenamesdave

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:16:16 -0500

We really don't care about the health of others, and we're especially bad at taking care of the mentally ill. Only part of why we never were and never will be the greatest country in the world. I'll be thinking about this woman on July 4.