Hospital Closure Opponents Urge a Slow Down

New York, NY —

Opponents of the proposed hospital closures are urging lawmakers to slow things down. WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: The legislature has until the end of the year to reject the recommendations, or they take effect. Opponents who testified yesterday at the Assembly Health Committee said the proposals by the hospital closure and restructuring commission would leave many communities in the lurch. Leonard Walsh from St. Vincents Midtown challenged the commission’s finding that his hospital’s 28,000 annual emergency room visits could be absorbed by nearby St. Luke’s-Roosevelt.

WALSH: They have a vision and a plan to potentially do something in the future. You’re going to take away an ER that was just built and renovated 5 years ago…to send patients to a yet-to-be-built ER of the future. It is an absolutely absurd public health decision.

REPORTER: Other hospital officials, community activists and politicians spoke on behalf of Westchester Square Hospital in the Bronx, Parkview Hospital in Queens and Cabrini Hospital in Manhattan. They called on the Assembly to overturn or modify the current law, which requires action by the end of the year. Governor-Elect Spitzer says he supports the proposals, but the heads of the two houses have expressed some concerns. For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.