Brooklyn, New York (NewYorkInjuryNews.com) — According to New York officials, city and federal investigators are seeking criminal charges for the patient who died due to negligence after lying unattended on the floor of a psychiatric emergency ward at the Kings Country Hospital last month.
The patient, a 49-year old Jamaican woman, was shown in a surveillance video as she fell to the floor. Unfortunately, the hospital staff and psychiatric patients appeared to ignore her.
City officials turned this video over to the advocates of mental health and attorneys of the New York Civil Liberties Union who took action filing a lawsuit for civil rights. This occurred a year ago whereby they protested against the way psychiatric patients are treated in the Kings Country Hospital. The verdict regarding this case was announced on Wednesday, and those who run the hospital will be directed to beef up procedures and staffing at the emergency room of psychiatric wards.
An official, on the condition of anonymity, identified the patient as Esman Green. As per the statements of Donna Lieberman, head of NYCLU, after Green’s death on June 19th, Green’s corpse was carried to the morgue where it remained until city officials decided to pay the costs related to shipment and funeral.
Robert Cohen, an associate partner of law firm, Kirkland & Ellis Lip which teamed with NYCLU in bringing the law suit, told the media, “The reason why this woman died the way she did was that there is a culture of indifference that permeates every aspect of KCHC psychiatric care, nothing short of that.”
