Back on February 27, 2014, James Dempsey a decorated World War II veteran gasped his final breaths of air at the Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation in front of a pair of nurses who were laughing at his agony. The 89-year-old man had called the nursing home staff for help, but as the nurses mocked the war hero, he fell unconscious and then passed away. The whole incident was captured in a hidden camera.
According to state records obtained by WXIA, Dempsey was found unresponsive around 5:30 a.m. the nursing home staff didn’t call 911 until an hour later. Dempsey’s family sued the nursing home back in 2014 but have been wary of commenting the lawsuit, citing that they had reached a settlement with the nursing home.
The nursing supervisor that was on duty that day is Wanda Nuckles, during the trial she testified that as soon as she realized that Dempsey had stopped breathing, she started performing chest compressions while she waited for help to arrive. However, Nuckles was unaware that she was being filmed and the video shows a completely different story to what she told the judge, to what she claims is just “an honest mistake”.
The troubling footage shows the nursing staff starting and stopping Dempsey’s chest compressions multiple times.
While the nurses struggle to start Dempsey’s oxygen machine, Nuckles is heard laughing with the staff in the background. “Ma’am was there something funny at the time?” Mike Prieto, the attorney for Dempsey’s family, questioned, “I can’t even remember all that, as you can see.” responded, Nuckles.
This deposition video was released in the past 24 hours and I refuse to let the death of a decorated WWII VETERAN go unnoticed given the circumstances.
I'm am truly sorry James Dempsey. You deserved to be treated with the utmost respect.
To his family, I'm heartbroken for you. pic.twitter.com/tLg4PMuPxN
— Ted Corcoran (RedTRaccoon) (@RedTRaccoon) November 19, 2017
Elaine Harris a retired nursing professor pointed out several violations of patient care during the incident, including failure to respond, failure to assess and failure to act. “In 43 years of nursing, I have never seen such disregard for human life in a healthcare setting,” she told WXIA.
The attorneys of the Atlanta nursing home attempted to stop WXIA from releasing the footage but dropped their appeal with the Georgia State Supreme Court. A year after the tragic incident, Nuckles and another nurse were fired from the nursing home but didn’t turn in their licenses until last September, almost three years after the war hero’s death.
https://twitter.com/kab43206/status/932105816722853889
The nursing home that is owned by Sava Senior Care released a statement through one of their spokespersons, “saddened by the events which occurred three years ago, … New leadership and the leadership team and the staff have worked very diligently to improve quality care and the quality of life for our residents.”
This is heartbreaking 💔 As a nurse I'm ashamed of their behavior! James Dempsey deserved better.😢
— Austin 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@debi_austin) November 19, 2017
Article inspired by NY Daily News // Video shows nurses laughing as dying 89-year-old WWII veteran calls for help, gasps for air