Of Medicine and Scrooge

I saw the report this morning about the death of Esmin Green who died in the emergency room of a New York City psychiatric hospital.

Her death was preserved on surveillance tape. If you’re a sighted person you can watch the video at ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=5284151&page=1

This is horrifying footage for it shows two security officers and a doctor walking in and out of the emergency room where Mrs. Green was lying "in extremis" on the floor. They ignored her very presence and she subsequently died. It is no exaggeration to say that this woman’s death is a direct result of the corrupt behavior of the hospital’s staff.

Was her race the problem? Was her mental illness and her race the problem? Was her status as an American in question because her home country was Jamaica? Was she the wrong height or weight for medical care? Was she forced to wait for 24 hours in the emergency room because she was insufficiently personable, convenient, clean, soulful, wise, or articulate?

Only the corporate ownership of this Brooklyn psychiatric facility can explain how a human being, a fellow child of God could be treated with such inhumane inaction. 24hours awaiting a bed! And left alone to die on a floor.

Already we hear that the doctor in question has been relieved of his duties. I should say this is not enough. Prison time and the loss of a medical license is the bare minimum for such terrifying behavior.

Or will the perpetrators of this offence against morality and medical ethics be allowed to "walk" because , after all, in American health care circles "you get what you pay for?"

Esmin Green was mentally ill and awaiting a bed.

What did those hospital employees say to themselves upon seeing Mrs. Green on the floor after a full day of waiting for care? Did they say like Scrooge:

Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?

S.K.

S

Comments

[william Peace]

Yikes, I thought the wheelchair dumping case in Florida was bad but this video is even more shocking. To me it reinforces the fact that those with a mental illness are among the most stigmatized and abused members of American society. The video also reinforces a comment made recently to me by a doctor, that we do not have a "health care" system in this country but a "sick care" system. By this he meant that the American medical establishment is highly skilled at treating acute medical conditions but woefully unable to care for those in need of basic care. There is no profit margin in keeping people healthy and if one wants to remain well it is up to them to pay for those medical costs. But not all people can afford to do this, indeed most cannot as costs escalate out of control when it comes to health care. The video in question is thus especially concerning. I could not agree more that the ramifications for the failure of all involved should be profound. This person died for no good reason in one of the nations wealthiest city, New York City. By itself this is damning and all Americans should take notice.

[nyc doc]

I don't know where you can look at the surveillance video which was up on various websites earlier this week.

The videos up now are heavily redacted. They do not show the doctor looking and leaving the patient, the security officer in a wheeled desk chair wheeling over, taking a gander and wheeling back [doing nothing to help the patient]. The earlier videos showed all this.

It is ironic - everyone around the world can look at this woman's last agonized pitiful moments of life, but only 1 of the 6 fired staff members [a Dr. Arty, who is a supervising psychiatrist and wasn't even there when the patient was mistreated] has been identified.