Julia Nelson, Time Warner Cable Worker Dies After Supervisor Tells Fellow Worker Preforming CPR was told “get back on the phone and take care of customers”

File this one under heartless …

Last month 67 year old Julia Nelson went to work at Time Warner Cable in Garfield Hts, OH and she never came home. According to accounts she died at her desk on September 8, 2011.  That seems like a tragic enough story … and now for the rest of the story.

Julia Nelson lay slumped over her desk as paramedics were called to her aid. A fellow employee began CPR on Nelson; however, that is when this story took a turn for the worse, much worse. When EMS arrived on the scene, no one was preforming CPR. So why did the concerned fellow employee stop? Even you can believe the following callous and heartless action, the good Samaritan’s supervisor ordered her to end her life saving efforts, and “get back on the phone and take care of customers.” WHAT!!!

Garfield Hts. paramedics rush to the Time Warner Call Center off McCracken around 3 PM that day.

Meantime, as Nelson lay slumped at her desk, a fellow employee begins CPR but records confirm, when EMS arrives, the patient is not breathing and contrary to red cross training, CPR is no longer being performed.

So why did the employee stop CPR? well, we tracked her down. She wouldn’t go on camera, but what she told us on the phone is shocking.

The women tells us, and other employees confirm, that a supervisor ordered her to end her life saving efforts, and “get back on the phone and take care of customers.”
The woman who tried to save Julia Nelson tells us yet another boss warned her, she could be “held liable if something goes wrong.”

How wrong could the management at Time Warner Cable have been? First, telling an employee to get back to the phones and take care of customers rather than help a dying individual … STRIKE ONE! Then another clueless boss told the good samaitan that she could be held liable if the individual died … STRIKE TWO! A note to Time Warner Cable management, there’ is a  good Samaritan law that protects lay responders, everyday people from being sued in the event that they help out in an emergency situation.” This is something that Time Warner Cable management should have known and should have been part of their Compliance policy and procedures. STRIKE THREE, there was a  heart defibrillator was right down the hall in the first aid room; however,  the door was locked and the only person who had the key was out of the building. Sorry, but the Time Warner Cable statement below is a cop out. You had policies in place, really … they all failed. You had management that were clueless as to how to help an employee in distress, you told a person to stop helping and go back to work and the defib was locked in a room of which no one had access to … YOU FAILED TO DO ANY OF YOUR POLICIES.

Statement from Time Warner Cable:

Time Warner won’t say much about the incident, but did release this 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.”

Your thoughts are with the family? Interesting, your thoughts did not appear to be with the deceased Julia Nelson when an agent of Time Warner Cable told a good Samaritan to “get back on the phone and take care of customers.” Maybe you might want to explain that one. Sorry, but it looks like the company acted negligently in the death of their employee.