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Cause of death found in NY patient who died unnoticed on hospital floor

Healthcare Security Weekly, July 21, 2008

According to the New York City Medical Examiner a woman who died unnoticed on the floor of a New York hospital last month was killed by blood clots caused by a long period of physical inactivity.

The 49-year-old woman, whose death was recorded by security cameras at the city-owned Kings County Hospital center, had been sitting in a waiting room for nearly 24 hours when she collapsed from her chair and slowly died on June 19, according to the Associated Press. The patient lay on the floor of the Brooklyn hospital for an hour before a nurse finally checked her pulse.

Six employees were fired following the woman’s death while waiting care in the hospital’s psychiatric emergency room. A recording of her death prompted national outrage when it became public earlier this month. The tape showed two security guards and a member of the medical staff stopping to look at the woman after she collapsed and then walking away.

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