Directors of cash-starved St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village decided last night to close its doors — and the city’s last remaining Catholic hospital will stop receiving patients next week, sources said.
Members of the board of the 160-year-old hospital voted to shutter all surgical, rehab and psychiatric inpatient services and divert patients to other hospitals beginning April 14.
In the short term, St. Vincent’s will likely continue to provide emergency care, the sources said.
“We are deeply saddened that we were unable to come up with a viable plan to save the inpatient services at the hospital that has proudly served Manhattan’s West Side and Downtown for 160 years,” said board Chairman Alfred Smith IV.
A source said it will likely take four to six weeks to close all the inpatient units.
Gov. Paterson and St. Vincent’s officials said outpatient clinics — including the cancer and HIV/AIDS centers — will continue to operate.
Paterson has directed the state Health Department to solicit proposals from other medical providers to run a scaled-down “urgent care center” at the site.
During high-level staff meetings yesterday, there was no discussion of a desperate “hail Mary” bid to save St. Vincent’s as a full-fledged hospital.
The board did not vote to file for bankruptcy protection, although the sources said that’s likely.
The moment of truth for St. Vincent’s came last week when Mount Sinai Medical Center considered, but ultimately declined, a partnership with the hospital.
As was the case with other potential suitors, Mount Sinai was concerned about assuming St. Vincent’s staggering $700 million debt.
Sources said that Paterson asked Smith to hold off on a vote to close the hospital. Smith refused.
It was Paterson last week who issued a grim statement saying he spoke to six different medical providers, but all refused to bail out St. Vincent’s.