Staffers Tried To Cover Up Waiting Room Death, Report Says

Chrissie Cole

Contributor

0 CommentsPrint ArticleSubscribe

A report by the Department of Investigation released today -- a year after Esmin Green’s death -- reveals staffers allegedly falsified records and lied to authorities in an attempt to cover up the neglect which led to her death.

Green had been sitting in the King County Hospital waiting room for nearly 24 hours when she collapsed on the floor. She laid there for at least an hour before a nurse attempted to awaken her and found she had no pulse.

Her family was awarded a $2 million settlement as part of a wrongful-death lawsuit last month.

The city-owned hospital accepted full responsibility for the death and says the money does not equate to the value of Green’s life. It has undertaken relieving overcrowding by increasing the size of the staff by 200 to provide mental health services.

Green, a mother of six, had emigrated from Jamaica about a decade ago and worked as an aide with the elderly and at a day care center before she lost her job. Her church knew her as “Sister Green”. She suffered from depression.