BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Authorities say an elderly woman being cared for at a California retirement center died after a nurse at the facility refused to perform CPR on the woman after she had collapsed.

Local media reports say when the 86-year-old resident of Glenwood Gardens in Bakersfield collapsed at the facility around 11 a.m. Feb. 26, a staff member called 911, but refused to give the woman CPR.

10News sister station KERO reported that in refusing the 911 dispatcher's insistence that she perform CPR, the nurse can also be heard telling the dispatcher that it was against the retirement facility's policy to perform CPR.

An ambulance arrived several minutes after the call and took the woman to a hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.

The retirement facility, which also owns Brookdale Place in San Marocs, released a statement saying protocol was followed, but that a "thorough internal review of the matter" would be conducted.

A written statement from the executive director of Glenwood Gardens stated:

"Our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives. That is the protocol we followed."

The nurse will not face charges because she did not break any state laws. Currently, only Vermont legally requires that a person come to aid of another in a medical emergency.