On television, hospitals in the hood are the last place you want to be. Remember St. Elsewhere? Apparently it is scarier in real life. Today’s news report that a sister sat in the psychiatric emergency room of King’s County Hospital in Brooklyn, NY until she died is a case of truth is stranger than fiction. The fact that last month’s incident was caught on tape is a sad commentary on how those of us with mental illness are marginalized, dehumanized and ignored.

Esmin Green, a 49 year-old woman originally from Jamaica, had a history of mental illness and had been committed the day before. She sat in the emergency waiting area for 24 hours (yup a whole day) waiting for a bed. What both shocks and saddens me is that when she this sister collapsed the behavior of the staff was outrageously neglectful. I can’t believe that security guards and staff saw this woman lying on the floor for more than an hour, clearly in distress, and did nothing. Other patients also sat there like this was par for the course (who knows maybe it is). When a nurse finally came over she didn’t bend down to see what was going on, she kicked Esmin (yes, I said kicked). This is treatment not even fitting for an animal let alone a human being. In fact, animal advocates would have your head if you kicked a dog or cat.

Because this tape has surfaced, the lies the staff came up with to cover up this mess are evident. People have been fired (hallelujah!) but the real question is have attitudes about how mental patients at King’s County and other hospitals that treat a lion’s share of our people changed? Somehow I doubt it.

One of the reasons this kind of thing can happen is because of our unwillingness to discuss mental illness. We think its silent and shameful. And sometimes when someone has a history of psychological issues we put them away literally or figuratively. But when our loved ones go somewhere for care (whether they want to be there or not) shouldn’t we expect more from the caregivers?  We need to pay more attention to what is happening to our people in psychiatric settings. They have a right to be treated with care and respect. This kind of madness has got to stop!

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