This is the chilling moment a group of nurses laughed as a World War II veteran died in a Georgia care home.
The nurses were meant to be fixing an oxygen mask onto 89-year-old James Dempsey after he called for help saying he couldn’t breathe.
But a surveillance camera captured them laughing as the breathing machine failed, and Dempsey fell unconscious, and records show they waited an hour to call 911.
One of the nurses is seen laughing so hard she is doubled over Dempsey’s deathbed.
Initially, Dempsey’s family in Woodstock, Georgia, thought he had died of natural causes in Northeast Atlanta Health and Rehabilitation Center in 2014.
But within weeks, they discovered footage from a hidden camera inside the room that suggested otherwise, sparking a three-year legal.
Despite watching the video in court in 2015, the nurses kept their licenses until now that local television station WXIA-TV/11Alive persuaded the court to release the footage to the public.
Dempsey served in the Second World War, before settling in Woodstock, Georgia
WXIA-TV/11Alive says the nurses didn’t surrender their licenses until this September, after it sent The Georgia Board of Nursing a link to the video the nursing home fought three years to keep secret.
And now, it has been shared publicly.
The newly-released video includes the deposition in court on November 23, 2015.
The video was played to the courtroom as the family’s lawyer Mike Prieto questioned former nursing supervisor Wanda Nuckles.
Before playing the video, Nuckles tells the court nurses were giving Dempsey CPR repeatedly until the emergency services arrived. As the video rolls, the courtroom sees that did not happen.
The video starts with Dempsey, a decorated soldier, repeatedly calling for help, saying he can’t breathe. He also presses the call light, which flashes on at 4.35am. He then appears to start losing consciousness.
A nurse does not appear until 4.42am, at which point she readjusts the bed, turns off the call light, and leaves, as Dempsey struggles for air.
Prieto asks Nuckles if that is an acceptable period of time, to which she responds ‘nope’. He asks if Dempsey appears to be gasping for air, to which she responds, ‘yep’.
‘How does it make you feel watching this video?’ the lawyer asks. ‘Sick,’ Nuckles replies.
The video then cuts to 6.23pm, when Nuckles and another nurse enter the room. They fix his blanket and adjust his bed as Dempsey lies motionless.
Prieto says to Nuckles: ‘Contrary to the way you testified previously, there’s no one doing CPR, is there?’ Nuckles replies: ‘No.’
They watch on. Another nurse enters, and all three stand around the bed talking.
At 6.30pm, as they try unsuccessfully to restart the oxygen machine and Dempsey takes his final breaths, the three appear to be laughing – with one of the nurses doubled over laughing.
In the courtroom, Prieto stops the tape and asks Nuckles: ‘Ma’am was there something funny happening at 6.30am on February 27, 2014 in the middle of this attempt to resuscitate Mr Dempsey?’
Nuckles replies: ‘I have no clue sir, I have no clue. I can’t even remember all that, as you can see.’
Prieto asks: ‘Do you see any sense of urgency on the part of any of the medical providers here ma’am? Including yourself?’
Nuckles replies: ‘I think I was doing pretty good considering I didn’t have anything good to work with.’
Prieto says: ‘Ok well when you testified earlier that you walked in and started giving CPR until the EMTs showed up, that wasn’t really the truth was it?’
Nuckles replies: ‘Sir that was an honest mistake because I was just basing everything on what I normally do.’
The video continues showing all nurses leaving, with Nuckles remaining. She adjusts his bed, and fixes a breathing machine onto Dempsey’s face. She then performs six chest compressions then stops.
‘Any reasons to stop after six chest compressions there ma’am?’ Prieto asks.
‘Not that I know of,’ Nuckles says.