After waiting 24 hours -- that's right, a full day and night -- in a Brooklyn psychiatric ER, Esmin Green collapsed and died on the fucking floor.
Her collapse was noticed by a security guard, who did nothing. A nurse later nudged Green with her foot, then returned to work. Then someone lied on the chart, saying Green was doing fine at 6:20 am, an hour after tape from a surveillance camera showed her face down on the floor.
Now, the hospital is required to check waiting patients every fifteen minutes, and to keep waiting times to no more than ten hours, which I suppose is an improvement but not exactly what I'd call a humane standard of care for someone in the grip of a psychosis.
On arrival, Green was agitated and psychotic. Imagine what her last twenty-four hours were like.
