Only a day after its staunchest defender was elected mayor of New York City, financially troubled Long Island College Hospital decreed Wednesday that it would not accept any new patients and even banned ambulances from bringing people to the emergency department.
SUNY Downstate Medical Center – which took over the troubled Cobble Hill hospital two years ago and has been trying to close it for a year- broke the news to employees Wednesday night, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported.
The stunned employees told the paper they got a telephone call from Dr.Michael Lucchesi, Chief Medical Officer at SUNY Downstate and LICH, about 6 p.m.
Mayor-elect Bill De Blasio, who boarded a jet to Puerto Rico Thursday morning for a conference and vacation, has said the hospital was too important to the community to be closed and made the issue a centerpiece of his campaign.
Dr. Toomas Sorra, a spokesman for Concerned Physicians of LICH, told the Eagle the group’s lawyers have been in touch with de Blasio’s aides about the situation.
Labor unions and community activists also joined the fight to keep LICH open, and won a victory late last month when SUNY postponed 500 planned layoffs.
A state Supreme Court judge in July also ordered Downstate to keep the hospital open, a ruling that was upheld in October by an appeals court.
The judge also appointed a monitor to make sure SUNY complied with the order.
The hospital issued the following statement late Thursday:
“Last night, because of a shortage of medical specialists, measures were taken in conjunction with the FDNY to ensure that Long Island College Hospital did not receive patients beyond its capabilities.
“At the direction of the chancellor, SUNY is mustering resources, including using doctors from UHB (University Hospital of Brooklyn) and from other SUNY institutions across the state, with the goal of allowing for the safe and rapid resumption of BLS (basic life support) ambulances tomorrow.
“The day-to-day situation at LICH remains fluid and will continue to be until there is clear resolution of the many complicated issues involving the future of the facility. SUNY is making every possible effort to safely maintain current levels of service until such an agreement can be reached.
“In September, the hospital voluntarily agreed to partially restore ambulance-receiving status for basic medical cases brought by the FDNY. Because of the continuing absence of the appropriate medical personnel, at no time have we been accepting the most serious medical cases by ambulance. Those patients are urged to seek care at other facilities and will continue to be transferred in the interest of their safety and welfare.”