An incredibly sad story, but the headlines are not the most worrisome part of the story. The aikido hold is most likely not even related to her COD-- we will have to wait for the autopsy report.
What is most concerning, IMO, is that upon discovering her in the cell, not breathing, and cold-- it took NINE MINUTES for 911 to be called, and during that 9 minutes, not a single person apparently even considered starting CPR. It took ANOTHER 1 1/2 minutes and the clear directions of the dispatcher before ANYONE bothered to begin CPR. That is
monumental incompetence. This is in a juvenile facility, with trained corrections officers, who most definitely are required to be CPR certified.
And it was a prison NURSE that was talking to the 911 dispatcher! Sorry, but NO NURSE needs to find a "protocol" to determine when to start CPR! And
even if the nurse was not physically at the scene, but communicating by phone from another location-- SHE should have directed officers to assess her and begin CPR.
When he arrived, staff at the small facility entered the cell where McMillen spent her one night at Lincoln Village alone. They realized she was "cold" and not breathing, according to emergency dispatch recordings obtained by 48 Hours' Crimesider.
Nine minutes passed between the deputy's arrival and the first call to 911, at 10:04 a.m.
About 1 ½ minutes later, the emergency dispatcher asked a Lincoln Village nurse if CPR was being performed.
"No it's not," the nurse said.
"They want us to start CPR," she can then be heard saying to someone at the facility.
"Do y'all have a CPR protocol or do y'all need it?" the dispatcher asked about 10 seconds later.
"I'm new, I can find out, I don't know," the nurse replied.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/audio-cpr-started-11-minutes-after-staff-found-gynnya-mcmillen/
Now, it may be that she was in rigor mortis, and CPR would not have been indicated-- but apparently those that found her and called 911 didn't report that to the dispatcher. And a nurse should definitely be able to tell if there is a pulse, if someone is breathing or not, and whether or not someone is in rigor mortis, and report that clearly to a 911 operator.
Bottom line-- even with "aikido holds" and the logs for every 15 min checks not being correctly annotated-- upon finding someone unresponsive, you check for breathing and a pulse, and if none-- start CPR. No need for protocols, or to get "permission" from a 911 operator to start CPR.
It's the total lack of recognition of the need to accurately report to 911 what was going on, coupled with the long delay in CPR (which admittedly, may not have helped at all) that will prove most legally damaging to the facility and its employees. That was clearly, unequivocally, disgraceful incompetence.
The aikido hold, IMO, is probably a red herring unrelated to whatever caused her death. The autopsy is really important. I suspect she was dead for quite some time (hours) by the time she was discovered-- and that is monumentally unacceptable in a juvenile facility. At a minimum, I think people should lose their jobs over the CPR issue. For sure they will ultimately face civil suits-- time will tell if what they did rises to the level of criminal prosecution. The nurse's professional conduct, IMO, was deplorable and incompetent, from what is in the articles.
Very, very sad. She was such a pretty young woman.
ETA: Actually, I missed that the actual 911 audio is in the article. At 1:07, the second person who spoke to 911 says she is not breathing. At 1:20, the nurse says the patient is cold, stiff, no respirations, no vital signs. Paramedics are usually permitted to call death in the field with presence of rigor, but I'm not sure if a prison nurse is able to make that call in Kentucky. But the nurse should have known whether or not she was required to start CPR if there was rigor noted. In all, this sounds like a "charlie foxtrot".
Here's the 911 audio:
https://soundcloud.com/user-878108529
