Time Warner Worker Dies at Her Desk After Boss Tells Co-Worker to Stop Giving CPR and “Take Care of Customers.
Last month, in Garfield Heights, Ohio, a 67-year-old woman named Julia Nelson who worked as a customer service representative for Time Warner Cable died at her desk.
Such is the fragility of life and the sudden finality of death, right? As every doctor television show portrays, sometimes you do all you can and the situation is simply out of your hands. RIGHT!?
But, what if someone didn’t do all that they could? What if someone stopped someone from doing everything they could? As details leak out about the Julia Nelson case, it seems that there was a degree of negligence displayed by Julia Nelson’s bosses that may have cost her her life.
According to AOLJobs, the situation is quite horrific in retrospect:
A local news station reports that after a co-worker began giving CPR to 67-year-old Julia Nelson, a supervisor allegedly told her to stop and “get back on the phone and take care of customers.”
Nelson slumped at her desk at the Time Warner Call Center in Garfield Heights, Ohio, and wasn’t breathing by the time paramedics arrived. But before that happened, a co-worker rushed over and began administering CPR, the woman told WOIO, only to be asked to stop. Employees at the scene have confirmed this report.
The woman was also told later by another supervisor that she could be “held liable if something goes wrong.”
Ohio has a “Good Samaritan” law on the books, however, which protects bystanders who provide emergency aid from being sued for unintentional injury or wrongful death.
Nelson’s daughter wanted answers to the questions surrounding the death of her mother and went to Carl Monday, an investigative reporter at Cleveland’s 19 Action News. What Monday found was even more disheartening. As Nelson’s bosses were stopping CPR and ordering those administering it back to the phones, an AED or portable heart defibrillator was right down the hall. However, it was in a locked room and the person who had the key wasn’t in the office. Anyone who has been trained to use an AED will know that it teaches you how to use it step by step and will not let you mess up the process. Garfield Police Chief Robert Sackett says they are currently reviewing the incident.
Time Warner Cable released the following statement:
“Time Warner responded appropriately to a medical emergency. Our company has procedures in place to respond to emergencies. We are saddened by the loss of one of our employees who was a co-worker and a friend. Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time.”
It seems to me that the company DID NOT respond appropriately. Bosses were unfamiliar with proper procedure, there was no access to the life saving AED device, and more than that it seems as if they were more worried about getting work done even if it meant the death of one of their employees.
