'Overworked' Phoenix 911 operator who died the week she returned to her job after battling COVID had told supervisor 'I might die' when forced to work a 15-hour shift - as family files $35M lawsuit against city

 A Phoenix 911 operator who was forced to work a 15-hour shift in the same week she returned to work after battling COVID-19 had told her boss that she was feeling ill and 'I might die' - the night before she stopped breathing and passed away.  

Pamela Cooper, 49, was on her first week back on the job after being off for six weeks battling coronavirus. 

She stopped breathing the night after working the 15-hour shift. 

Cooper, a 20-year dispatch veteran, was still ill but had run out of her six weeks of paid leave.

She returned to work because she had to support her mother, a widow on social security, and her husband - who had run out of unemployment, the Phoenix New Times reported.  

She was was rushed to a local hospital after working the long shift, but stopped breathing the next day and later died after she was taken off life support, KPNX-TV reported. 

Her family has now taken the first steps to file a $35million lawsuit against the city claiming she was overworked. 

Jonathan Michaels, the attorney representing her family, said he has filed a Notice of Claim to help support her family and call for change for her fellow workers.

'This never should have happened. Certainly no one should have to die for their job,' Michaels told KPNX-TV. 

Phoenix requires 911 operators to work extra hours to cover the emergency lines if there aren't enough people unless an employee tells a supervisor they feel sick - in which case they should be sent home, the outlet reported.

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Cooper had returned to work despite feeling ill still to support her husband and mother when her paid leave ran out

Dispatch messages show that Cooper had complained to her boss that she wasn't feeling well during the hellish shift.

The last messages Cooper sent during the 15-hour shift have been preserved in the dispatch center's computer system and were shared with the Phoenix New Times by the dispatcher's union, AFSCME Local 2960.

In one message exchange, someone who appears to be her supervisor tells her that she is needed on the clock until 11.30pm.  

'I might die, but ok,' Cooper said.

The apparent supervisor responds: 'Please don't. Not on my watch. I appreciate you getting back to me quick. Please help yourself to the Mando Mart [free food] over there.'

'I just came back from COVID for a month… I can barely walk or breathe. I will stay sitting :(.' Cooper responded back.

Cooper's husband Joel blasted the city for forcing his wife to work the long shift despite her illness.

'They could have sent her home when she wasn’t feeling well because that’s protocol,' Joel said. 'They overworked her.' 

Phoenix officials told KPNX-TV that the city is down 50 full-time dispatchers out of a potential 344 on staff as of Wednesday and that they have lost 11 police operators since the start of 2021.

It would take almost a year to train new recruits even if the vacancies were filled immediately - so workers will continue to have to work overtime so the center can operate around the clock.

Spokespeople for the city told the outlet that its human resources department will investigate Cooper's situation in the wake of her death and that extensive measures had been put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Dispatchers between two call centers with alternating work stations, plexiglass barriers had been added and the center was offering free COVID-19 testing.

However, three dispatchers who spoke to the New Times said that more could have been done and that supervisors did not always take COVID-19 seriously.