Caught on camera: Patient dies on the floor of a hospital waiting room as staff ignored her for over an HOUR

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:02 PM on 02nd July 2008

Shocking footage of a woman who died on the floor of a hospital waiting room after workers watched her lie there for over an hour without helping her has been released.

Esmin Green, 49, had been waiting at Kings County Hospital for nearly 24 hours when she toppled from her seat at 5:32 a.m. on June 19 and fell face down on the floor. She was dead by the time someone on the medical staff finally came to her aid.

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A series of still images from CCTV in the waiting room of the hospital shows Ms Green slumping to the floor - then being ignored for over an hour as she lay dying

Green's collapse barely caused a ripple. Other patients waiting a few feet away didn't react. Security guards and a member of the hospital's staff appeared to notice her prone body at least three times, but made no visible attempt to see if she needed help.

One guard didn't even leave his chair, rolling it around a corner to stare at the body, then rolling away a few moments later.

Green, who had been involuntarily committed the previous morning, and had waited overnight for a bed, stopped moving about half an hour after she collapsed.

Though security guards and a member of staff appeared to notice Ms Green's body, they made no visible attempt to see if she needed help

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs the hospital, said six people have been fired as a result of the incident, including security personnel and members of the medical staff.

Green's medical records raised the possibility that someone might have tried to cover up the circumstances of the death. They contained notations indicating that she was up and about during the time in which the video shows her dying on the floor.

HHC's president, Alan Aviles, said in a statement said officials will carry out "a thorough investigation to answer any questions that remain."

The office of the city's medical examiner said it was still trying to determine why Green died. She had been brought to the hospital suffering from agitation and psychosis, city officials said.

The psychiatric unit at Kings County Hospital had already been a subject of complaints by advocates for the mentally ill.

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