[chris]

An 87-year-old woman died after a staff member at her California retirement community refused a 911 dispatcher's repeated requests to start CPR, saying it was against the facility's policy.

Lorraine Bayless collapsed in the dining room at Glenwood Gardens in Bakersfield on February 26, 2013, and was barely breathing. A staff member called 911, and dispatcher Tracey Halvorson asked her to begin CPR, then asked her to hand the phone to anyone else who would.

"It's a human being," Halvorson said. "Is there anybody that's willing to help this lady and not let her die?"

"Um, not at this time," the caller answered.

Bayless was declared dead at Mercy Southwest Hospital later that day. The Bakersfield Fire Department released the recording that weekend and it was broadcast widely.

Jeffrey Toomer, the executive director of Glenwood Gardens, initially defended the caller, saying she had followed the facility's practice of calling emergency medical personnel and waiting with the resident until they arrived. The company later said the employee had misunderstood its guidelines. The woman who identified herself on the call as a nurse was the facility's resident services director. The policy applied to the independent living community only; residents of the adjacent assisted living and skilled nursing facilities would have received CPR in the same circumstances.

Bakersfield police investigated and concluded that no criminal statute had been violated. No charges were filed. Bayless's family said afterward that she had wanted no medical intervention and that they were satisfied with how the facility handled it, though no do-not-resuscitate order was on file.

The recording is the roughly seven-minute call from the facility to the fire department; the version here runs about five minutes.