Watch: South African Nurse 'Verbally Abuses' Elderly Patient In Viral Video

A South African nurse was filmed in a video that went viral Wednesday allegedly verbally harassing an elderly patient. The footage was anonymously recorded by a 30-year-old woman who was also in the hospital room and witnessed the incident first-hand. The woman reportedly posted the video on Facebook after she was discharged from St. Mary's Hospital the next day.

The incident was allegedly filmed Monday by the other patient. The nurse can be heard apparently raising her voice before she starts to change the elderly female's adult diaper without closing the curtains for privacy. The elderly woman reportedly died the following day, according to South African news outlet the Sunday Times.

"It's better to be a man because you don't have any responsibilities but you are a mother. Move your body. Sit up. Sit up," the nurse said in the video, according to a translation done Wednesday by the Sunday Times. "There is a bed pan for you at the side of your bed so you don't pee yourself. You can't keep wearing a diaper because it's going to give you a rash."

"I am going to tell you as a nurse. I am going to tell you woman to woman. You have children. You can't just lay back and people to do this and that for you," the nurse added. "You can't do that."

Some online defended the nurse's actions, saying she was merely motivating the patient. The health department, however, launched an investigation following the apparent incident.

"The KZN department of health strongly condemns the alleged conduct of a staff nurse from St Mary's Hospital, which if true, would be in violation of the code of conduct of healthcare professionals," the KwaZulu-Natal health department said in a Wednesday statement, according to South Africa's Independent Online.

Punishable actions have not been confirmed at this time.