Woman's Death in L.A. Hospital Remains a Mystery

June 14, 2007 — -- The case of Edith Rodriguez, the 43-year-old mother of three who collapsed in the emergency room of Los Angeles' Martin Luther King Jr. Harbor Hospital in May and died after not receiving help, has raised questions about the quality of hospital care and left a family grieving.

"I'm angry, but at the same time I'm feeling pretty bad about her,'" said Rodriquez's brother Eddie Sanchez.

On "Good Morning America" today, Frank Casco, the attorney for Rodriguez's three children and four grandchildren, said what happened in the emergency room was "a mystery," but Casco says the 911 calls and security camera video proves that many people saw Rodriguez suffering and that no one offered help.

"She was lying in the fetal position crying and no one would help her," Casco said. "The security guards were on notice that she was laying there. The police were on notice that she was laying there. The hospital staff was on notice she was laying there."

Casco also said the police officers in the emergency room that morning were more interested in checking out Rodriquez for a possible parole violation, then making sure she got help.

And other families are now speaking out with allegations that their loved ones died of neglect while in the King-Harbor ER.

In March 2003, 20-year-old Oluchi Oliver waited hours to be admitted to the hospital with crippling stomach pains, according to his family. After 10 hours, he collapsed dead on the floor. No one noticed, his father, Akilah Oliver, said.

"It's always unimaginable when a child dies, but for him to die like this, as if he were invisible. … It's really tragic and it's really unimaginable," Akilah Oliver said.

Last week, federal inspectors declared that patients at King-Harbor were in "immediate jeopardy" of harm or death and gave the hospital 23 days to correct procedures or lose certification. It was the fourth time in less than four years that the hospital had received the warning.