The Tragic Death of Esmin Green

Esmin Green died at 5:32 a.m. on June 19, 2008, after collapsing on a hospital waiting room floor where she lay for more than an hour before staff checked on her. Green had sat in the chair for nearly 24 hours waiting for staff at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, to get her a room.

EMS workers brought Green into the psychiatric facility on the morning of June 18, saying she was suffering from psychosis and agitation. She was involuntarily committed to the hospital.

People Stop & Look at Green

Two security guards and two other patients stopped to look at Green as she lay on the floor, her legs thrusting as she desperately struggled to get up.

After looking for a brief moment, the guards and patients continued walking.

For the next half hour, Green lay face-first on the cold concrete waiting room floor unnoticed by staff before her body could take no more. Green died lying on that floor, surrounded by people who could have saved her life had they only checked on her.

Staff Finally Notice Green

Another half-hour passed before a nurse noticed her lying on the floor at 6:35 a.m. and can be seen in the hospital video poking her with her foot. She then called for help three minutes later. When staff checked her pulse, they learned that Esmin Green was dead at 49.

Falsified Records

Hospital staff falsified Green’s medical records during this time. At 6:00 a.m. Green’s medical chart noted that she was “alert and awake,” although CCTV from the hospital shows she was lying on the floor in the waiting room at this time- where she had been for nearly 30 minutes.

Esmin stopped moving her body at 6:08 a.m. At 6:20 a.m. hospital staff recorded in her medical chart that she was “sitting quietly in the waiting room.” Another note recorded while Green lay on the floor says she asked to go to the bathroom.

Autopsy Results

An autopsy determined that Ms. Green died from pulmonary thromboemboli, blood clots that form in the legs and travel through the bloodstream to the lungs, a condition which could have been aggravated by sitting in the chair too long.

The medical examiner said the clots were due to "deep venous thrombosis of lower extremities due to physical inactivity," complicating an underlying psychological illness: chronic paranoid schizophrenia.

Employees Terminated

Six hospital employees, including the two security guards who stopped to look at Ms. Green but failed to render aid, lost their jobs over the incident. Criminal charges were not filed against anyone.

The incident occurred less than one month after three separate lawsuits were filed against the hospital claiming “inhumane conditions and treatment.”

Who Was Esmin Green?

Ms. Green moved to New York from Jamaica 10 years before she died. She left six kids behind, the youngest 14. She considered church members her family. The pastor of the church said Ms. Green had been hospitalized once before over mental health problems. It was she who called for medical help for her on June 18, a decision she said she regrets.

Peter Pilgrim, a close friend of Green’s, said he saw her a few days before she died. He described her to CNN as a beautiful person with a good heart who loved children and everyone she met. She was upset over losing her job at a daycare center. She was also being evicted from her apartment, which added more stress to her life.

Rest easy, Ms. Green. Such a sad story. :(

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Resources & More Information:

https://abc7chicago.com/archive/6240211

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/nyregion/20hospital.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/03/hospital.woman.death/

https://www.nyclu.org/sites/default/files/releases/KCHC_complaint_0.pdf