Woman left on hospital floor to die

[Yeo]

Video here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25472162#25472162

NEW YORK - Video from a surveillance camera at a Brooklyn hospital shows a woman dying on the floor of a psychiatric emergency room while people nearby ignore her.

The video was released Monday by lawyers suing Kings County Hospital alleging neglect and abuse of mental health patients at the facility.

The video shows the 49-year-old woman keeling over and falling out of her chair on June 19 and lying facedown on the floor, then thrashing before going still. About an hour passed before someone realized what was happening and tried to help.

"It's an emergency room, it's not a bus terminal," said Attorney Robert Cohen, of Kirkland & Ellis. "People who are in desperate need of services, care and attention come here to be treated and to get better. They don't come here to die alone."

While the videotape showed that she was on the floor at 6 a.m., the New York Civil Liberties Union said hospital records were filed stating that she was "awake up and alert� at that very time.

"We were absolutely appalled to get medical documentation kept in accordance with New York state law which was completely contradicted by video surveillance feeds," said Beth Haroules, staff counsel for the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Last year advocates sued KCH, calling its psychiatric ward a �chamber of filth, decay, indifference and danger.�

At the time, the city�s Health and Hospitals Corporation refuted those claims. But now with the security video, city officials have launched an investigation into whether the woman's medical records had been altered and have fired or suspended half a dozen staffers � including the doctor, the nurse and the two security guards shown on the tape.

The agency that runs the municipal hospital � the city's Health and Hospitals Corp. � fired several staffers, including a doctor who is seen on the tape, as a result.

An HHC spokeswoman said the agency has also increased staff and training and agreed to monitor psychiatric patients every 15 minutes.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25475759/
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[Plex]

How disturbing...What kind of inhumane people they have out there?