Kings County Hospital Center

Kings County Hospital Center is a hospital located at 451 Clarkson Avenue in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York City. It is under the umbrella of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the municipal agency which runs New York City's public hospitals.

According to the HHC, "Kings County was named the first Level 1 Trauma Center in the U.S." cite web|url = http://www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/facilities/kings.shtml |title = HHC - Kings County Hospital Center |accessdate = 2008-07-09] . Because of this trauma center, police officers have been quoted as saying, "If I get shot... bring me to Kings County." [cite web|url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/nyregion/15hospital.html?ex=1189396800&en=ba9b2aa765445400&ei=5070 |title = In Hospital Scrubs and Officers Blues, a Kinship - New York Times |accessdate = 2008-07-09 |date = Published: July 15, 2007 |author = ANDY NEWMAN]

In 1997 KCHC began a modernization program. Phase 1 a convert|250000|sqft|m2|abbr=on Bed Tower was completed in 2001,Phase 2 a 260,000 treatment and diagnostic center was completed in 2005 and Phase 3 an ambulatory center in 2006.

This work was managed by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, with the TDX Construction Company as the project manager.fact|date=July 2008 A convert|300000|sqft|m2|abbr=on Behavorial Center is under construction and will be complete in 2008.fact|date=July 2008

Kings County hospital has paid out more than 1/3 of all malpractice claims against the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (over $60 million). Since there are 11 city hospitals, this indicates that Kings County hospital has a very high amount of malpractice claims compared to other city hospitals.Kings County hospitals has been the most sued hospital of the city's health care system [cite web|url = http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/88057 |title = WNYC - News - Kings County Hospital Facing Another Lawsuit |accessdate = 2008-07-09] .

In 2003, the United States Army established a training program at the hospital called the Academy of Advanced Combat Medicine to train reservists in an emergency room that has received 600 cases per year of gunshot and stabbing victims. [Bleyer, Jennifer. [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/nyregion/06medics.html "Battlefield Medics Shaped in Civilian Setting"] , "The New York Times", December 6, 2005. "The program, called the Academy of Advanced Combat Medicine, started at Kings County two years ago when officers from the 5,300-person Eighth Medical Brigade, based at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, decided to train their reservists in a civilian emergency room.... The hospital's highly regarded, extremely busy emergency room admits 1,200 major trauma patients each year, among the most in the city."]

Esmin Green tragedy

On June 19, 2008, Esmin Green, a 49-year old native of Jamaica, died in the waiting room of the hospital's G Building, a psychiatric ward. Videotape shows several guards and even a doctor walking through the camera view without doing anything to help the woman, who was prone on the floor. In addition, records were falsified, stating her status at times which the time-stamped video prove false, even going so far as to giving reports about her status after she was apparently dead. Several people were fired in the immediate aftermath, and investigations and lawsuits are pending. This incident came in the midst of a federal lawsuit charging neglect by the hospital [ [http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/06/30/2008-06-30_hospital_video_shows_no_one_helped_dying.html "Hospital video shows no one helped dying woman," New York Daily News, 30 June 2008] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7485910.stm BBC News Video shows death of US patient] ] .

She had been waiting in the emergency room for nearly 24 hours when she toppled from her seat at 5:32 a.m. on June 19, falling face down on the floor. She was dead by 6:35, when someone on the medical staff, flagged down by a person in the waiting room, finally approached, nudged Green with her foot, and gently prodded her shoulder, as if to wake her. The staffer then left and returned with someone wearing a white lab coat who examined her and summoned help.

Until the staffer's appearance, Green's collapse barely caused a ripple. Security guards and a member of the hospital's staff appeared to notice her prone body at least three times, but made no visible attempt to see if she needed help. One guard didn't even leave his chair, rolling it around a corner to stare at the body, then rolling away a few moments later.

Green's medical records raised the possibility that someone might have tried to cover up the circumstances of the death. One notation said that at 6 a.m., she was "awake, up and about" and had just used the restroom. Another said that at 6:20 a.m., she was sitting quietly in the waiting room, and had a normal blood pressure. During both of those times, Green was either in her death throes or already dead [http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hyoCW83J5tuh5Dp75VzjbESAakVgD91LB0002]

References

External links

* [http://www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/html/facilities/kings.shtml Kings County Hospital Center Website]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/nyregion/15hospital.html?ex=1189396800&en=ba9b2aa765445400&ei=5070 "New York Times" In Hospital Scrubs and Officer’s Blues, a Kinship]
* [http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/88057]