A World War II veteran confined to a nursing home died while his calls for help went unanswered- and the whole thing was caught on hidden camera.
The incident took place at a Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation in 2014 , but the footage has only recently been made public by the family as part of a lawsuit.
89-year-old James Dempsey -who served his country during World War II- called for help six times, saying he couldn’t breathe.
When he finally became unresponsive, former nursing supervisor Wanda Nuckles approached the scene after being notified by another nurse.
Nuckles claimed she was began CPR and continued to do so until paramedics arrived- however, the camera tells a different tale.
“Sir, that was an honest mistake,” Nuckles when confronted with video footage during the deposition. “I was just basing everything on what I normally do.”
Not only did she lie about the chest compressions, the staff did not call 911 until an hour later.
When nurses had difficulty getting Dempsey’s oxygen machine operational during attempts to fix the issue, you can hear Nuckles and others laughing.
“In 43 years in nursing, I have never seen such disregard for human life in a healthcare setting, is what I witnessed,” said Elaine Harris, a retired nursing professor.
She criticized the nurses, claiming that the nurses failed to respond, assess and act- not to mention the failure to continuously perform CPR.
“That is absolutely inappropriate. You never stop compressions,” said Harris.
According to 11Alive, the family has reached a settlement agreement with home operators Sava Senior Care, who fired the nurses ten months after the video was brought to their attention.
Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation continued to have a history of problems after Dempsey’s death due to health and safety violations, earning a one-star rating from Medicare and over $813,113 in fines since 2015.
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