BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The death of an elderly woman at Emerald South Nursing Home is reigniting the call for better working conditions there.

What should have been an honest mistake for Ruth Murray ultimately cost her her life. She was 83.

Police say Murray accidentally went into the room of another resident and then wound up in a fight. Murray later died from her injuries.

Employees at Emerald South have been told not to speak publicly about the incident, according to the union that represents them, which says they've been trying to bring awareness to the conditions there for years.

"We have numerous labor board charges. We have numerous grievances and arbitrations. We have been fighting for better staffing for the better part of a year since these guys took over in 2012," said Todd Hobler, Western New York Nursing Home Division Vice President for 1199 SEIU.

SEIU caregivers picketed at Emerald South earlier in August. The employees say they're short-staffed, receiving low wages and temporary workers were being overused.

The for-profit nursing home is owned by the Landa family and union representative Jenny Applewhite says the recent fighting incident is another example of what can happen when staffing is inadequate.

"If you call the state and tell them there's not enough staff here, that they are not getting the proper care, the first thing they say is we don't have safe staffing ratios," said Applewhite.

"Who else is going to have to die or something happens to one our employees or another resident for them to wake up and smell the coffee? What else is going to happen?"　

Emerald South Nursing Home released a statement about Murray's death saying: 

"We have met privately with the family of the resident, and have been and continue to, cooperate with authorities as we work together to conduct a complete and thorough investigation." 

The Murray family has also hired an attorney.

"What we will be looking at is whether this individual had a history of this type of behavior. It's our understanding there may have been prior incidents that occurred. We'll look to see what type of notice the nursing home actually had and why this individual if that's in fact true, why this individual is able to be in that home with others and placing other residents at risk," said Michael Scinta, an attorney with Brown Chiari.

The Department of Health and Buffalo Police are investigating the case and waiting for autopsy results.