NBC affiliate 11 Alive conducted an investigation revealing the true story about what happened to a World War II veteran who died after calling for help in a hospital bed and gasping for air.
Hidden video of the nursing home room shows 89-year-old World War II veteran James Dempsey calling out for help six times while lying in a hospital bed and gasping for air at the Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation in 2014. The video was only recently released due to a lawsuit filed by the family.Attorneys attempted to prevent the video from being released by asking a county judge to keep it secret. However, the judge ruled in favor of its release.
There are six hours of video court deposition from a nursing supervisor describing the staff’s response to the incident. These answers were provided before she knew of the existence of the hidden camera. However, the video shows a different story than what the supervisor described.
According to 11 Alive, staff found Dempsey unconscious at 5:28 a.m. but did not call 911 until 6:25 a.m.
Former nursing supervisor Wanda Nuckles said in the deposition that she immediately and continually gave CPR to Dempsey from the time she entered the hospital room. However, after watching the hidden video footage ‐ which shows her not administering CPR at all ‐ her story changes.
Another nurse came into the room, but failed to check any of Dempsey’s vital signs, 11 Alive reported. When nurses couldn’t get Dempsey’s oxygen machine operational, the nurses and Nuckles laughed.
11 Alive reported that it took 10 months for the nursing home to fire the nurses after being provided the video in November 2015. Nuckles and another nurse in the video surrendered their licenses in September.
Despite having a one-star rating on Medicare, the nursing home is still operational in Atlanta.