All 5 were caught after one of them was overheard talking about the incident with another member of staff at the Denver Health Medical Center in Colorado.

"Multiple staff members viewed the victim while he was incapacitated, including after he was deceased," hospital spokesman, Josh Rasmussen, told the Denver7 news channel.

He added that 4 of the nurses had since returned to work, but one had left for unrelated issues.

In a separate statement to the Daily Mail, the hospital said: "Denver Health is truly sorry this happened. This incident it is not an fitting representation of the high-quality care & compassion our clinical staff strive to provide to our patients.”

The hospital contacted the police but the decision was taken that the hospital should handle the matter within.