CCTV video: Woman dies while waiting at hospital

I just heard this on the news today. Apparently a woman who was waiting in the emergency room of a psychiatric ward in a hospital, fell off her chair onto the ground and was writhing in pain for one hour before she died.

That's bad enough, but what is even worse is that other patients around her didn't react, security guards and other hospital personnel noticed her at least three times on surveillance footage yet did nothing. Apparently one guard was caught on CCTV video, rolling his chair around to observe her, watching her for a few seconds and then returning to his place doing nothing.

This is absolutely atrocious! Yes we all know emergency room line ups are horrendously long. Yes, we know this is in a psychiatric ward where there have probably been lay offs etc. and they are probably short staffed. But this is a matter of life and death where all excuses should fail! The woman's wait time was over 12 hours long, and she fell with no reaction from anyone around her, even after they noticed her.

Cradle's Networked Video Surveillance System (NVSS) can assist in situations such as these. It can alert the authorities of events that take place. Also, if hospital security are aware that they themselves are being monitored by authorities higher up, they know they have to pay attention and react or they will lose their jobs.

Needless to say that 6 people have been fired in the wake of this incident. This hospital, the Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, has already been the subject of numerous complaints about the filthy conditions of the bathroom and waiting rooms. At times, people are forced to wait on mats in the waiting room and wait times can be at least 12 hours.

A court order has been given to the hospital where they are obliged to reduce wait times to 10 hours and check upon all patients every 15 minutes.

Its just too bad that all of these measures had to be taken after someone lost their life. Cradle's Networked Video Surveillance System can alert people when to act, but cannot make up for human inaction.