POLL: Would You Use the LICH ER in an Emergency?

By on February 18, 2013 3:45 pm in Brooklyn Heights

LICH may be on the verge of closing and at the BHA’s recent annual meeting one attendee suggested that the prevailing attitude is that Brooklyn Heights residents simply wouldn’t use the hospital’s ER. That presumption may have been part of the calculus used to shut down the facility. Call BS on the ER theory? Agree? Vote in our poll now.


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  • petersteinberg

    I think, by the very definition of “emergency”, one would go to the nearest facility… which for Brooklyn Heights is LICH.

    Maybe a more informative poll would be “Have you ever chosen to use LICH for an elective medical procedure?”

  • BrooklynBugle

    We were going for more of the visceral reaction – your point did cross my mind when writing the poll however. – Homer

  • ClaudeScales

    Our daughter was born at LICH, and my wife and I have both had surgeries there. In each instance, the quality of performance and care was excellent. I understand some people have had complaints about LICH, but that has not been our experience.

  • Remsen Street Dweller

    Not only would I use LICH for an emergency, I have used it on many occasions in the past (as I have posted here). And, due to a chronic condition, I want to keep using it in the future!

  • petersteinberg

    Claude, I’m curious — how long ago was that birth and were those surgeries? I have a sense — and of course I could be completely wrong — that many of the people singing the praises of LICH are remembering their experiences there 10, 15, or 20 years ago.

    The one minor experience we had there — the ultrasound on my 1 year old — was straightforward and professional. (And the reason my family’s aformentioned medical experiences have been at Mt. Sinai is because my wife did her residency and fellowship there.)

  • Wiley E.

    I have been to the ER 5 times in the past 3-years. The most recent was 1 month ago. They saved my life. (sorry Mr. Krusty and Gerry).

  • ltap917

    Same here. Nov. 3 diagnosed in the ER with a blood clot in my leg. Second in 10 years. Three weeks later back in the ER for a bleeding incident due to too high a dosage on the anticoagulant. Saw Dr. Irwin. He was fantastic and took good care of me. Eight years ago when we first moved here I fell on a bad piece of sidewalk on Willow St. Broke my wrist in four places. Dr. Caligiuri at LICH took care of me. He is now listed in the Castle Connolly Guide to best doctors in the tri state area.
    Need I say more?

  • Erik Marketan

    If you are in extremis, you don’t have a choice. If you require a few sutures, a tetanus shot or a sprain/strain, the LICH Fast Track ER is quick, and competent. LICH is an ER Stroke Center with high ratings for Neurology, and a Cardiac Care ER for emergency stenting for heart attack patients that also rates very well. To close those doors will lead to increased death and disability in the Community. 50,000 additional patient visits between already crowded Brooklyn Hospital, Methodist and Lutheran should lead the State Dept. of Health to seriously question this decision, the motivation behind it, and implications for the health and well being of a Borough.

  • A Neighbor

    In many emergency situations — stroke, heart attack — every minute counts, literally. LICH has one of the best ‘door to doctor’ response times in Brooklyn and one of the fastest ‘door to balloon’ times in New York State.

  • ClaudeScales

    Birth 19 years ago; wife’s surgery about 13; mine–a relatively simple procedure done on an outpatient basis–about 8. More recently–within the past five years–my daughter used the ER once and was briefly hospitalized with a MRSA infection; again, no reason for complaint.

  • TeddyNYC

    My Mom used the ER at LICH two months ago for a bacterial infection. Had it been closed, instead of a 5 minute walk to the ER, it would’ve been a B63 bus trip to 5th Street and a steep walk up to 7th Ave. It was a Sunday so maybe a longer wait at the bus stop on a cold & very windy day. Maybe 30 minutes or more depending on how long the bus would take. Car service could probably take a similar amount of time depending on the availability/location of a car.

  • Andrew Porter

    I was directed to go the the LICH ER by my internist, who is affiliated there, and I had an ERCP there in 2005. But I’ve gone elsewhere for major procedures, and was never admitted there.

  • Brixtony

    My wife went to LICH after being hit by a backing -up car service car on Henry St a few years ago – 17 Staples in the scalp and a fractured pelvis. I went there about 25 years ago for a bad stomach ache that turned out to be diverticulitis and my son has been there for a couple of broken bones from sports. In each case, we were treated very well as confirmed by our regular, Manhattan based MDs. The older I get, the more I appreciate(d) the convenience and safety that LICH provides. The people of Red Hook need it even more!

  • clyde turner

    Having used it I now insist that I be taken to Maimonides instead

  • Remsen Renegade

    Peter Steinberg is right on. Of course everyone in Brownstone Brooklyn wants to keep LICH open for the ER, but if you needed major surgery that didn’t need to be done immediately under emergency circumstances would you have it done there? In my case, I can say with virtual certainly the answer is no, not because I have anything against LICH, but the specialists I’d see for whatever the issue is would probably be based in Manhattan, and because of that, they don’t attend at LICH. It’s as simple as that, and I suspect the same is true for most of Brownstone Brooklyn, but I would not hesitate to use the ER there.

  • redshoes8@aol.com

    I think that the areas surrounding LICH need it’s ER. Besides being born there and having my tonsels out many years ago ;-D, I have had the good fortune of not having any necessary procedures until early 2000s. I had 2 foot operations there with Dr Greg Cohen and was treated for MRSA by the wonderful Dr Douglas Sepkowitz! Just before Thanksgiving last year I was sent immediately to ER after a routine visit to my GP, Dr Sandra Berman. I had developed aifib in my heart and was admitted to the cardeo unit. I had 2 procedures and was there for 5 days. I had the best of care and cannot say too much about everyone from the cardeo unit, to the nurses, to the maintenance crews. They made my frightening experience less fearful and I had very caring people around me. As we age, we need to know that someone close will be there for us. It is the snobs of this area who feel because their hospital has a Manhattan zip code that they are in better hands. No faith in the decisions of their doctors?? Not only will we be loosing good care, but many jobs for people who really need them! Can we get some people to run this hospital without robbing it blind!?

  • redshoes8@aol.com

    I forgot to mention that we do NOT need another condo from greedy developers–how about a school which is so badly needed for all the condo buyers children!!?? OR better yet a hospital that serves this community!!

  • Wiley E.

    It’s all about the money. The rich want everything. They want to the other 99% of us to die as soon as possible. Ask Bloomberg about schools and libraries, and the tax breaks he is giving to Ratner and the others.

  • Joe A

    Did they have to do emergency surgery to remove your head from your rectum by chance?

  • Moni

    Why are some people set on this “either/or” thing — you would use LICH or you would instead use another hospital? Using another hospital does not automatically indicate that LICH stinks and you’d never use it. I’ve used the ER twice, for a broken bone and a slashed finger. My husband had a cataract removed there in the day surgery, also an angiogram, and a one-day stay for a gastro-intestinal procedure. This does not mean that we haven’t used other hospitals — Memorial Sloan Kettering, for instance, and NYU. Wise people get second opinions for life-threatening conditions and choose the most fitting hospital and doctors. Wise people, in an emergency, don’t waste time and head for the nearest ER.

  • jen

    who’s forcing you to stay if things are so bad? All I hear is you’re upset at the armed extortionists (city govt) for not distributing the loot they steal from me to you.

  • jen

    let’s be honest for a moment shall we…if you spend any time in front of LICH you’ll find rather quickly the majority of patients are brought there by the ambulette vans (see very profitable cash cow at taxpayers’ expense) for non-emergencies. Said folks are generally quite heavy and most likely suffer from lifestyle illnesses that keep them coming and going from the hospital on a regular basis. LICH probably just fills them with medications and waits for their reimbursement from medicaid/medicare w/o trying to help them fix the root of the problem/s. Ultimately, for non-emergencies folks in bklyn hgts and surrounding environs will go to manhattan. If we want to help the poor why put a hospital in one of the wealthier areas of the borough?

  • rs

    I went to the ER for a kidney stone a year ago. 13 hours to be looked at and given a pain medication. What made it all the more charming was the patients in the next beds to mine were handcuffed and under police guard.

  • Moni

    Jen, your response is shockingly judgemental!

  • gbkm

    assinine

  • gbkm

    who cares whether anybody in Brooklyn Heights would use LICH or not. Thousands of people from a bunch of other neighborhoods in LICH’s surrounding community do use it. Should the place be closed because we don’t live in Brooklyn Heights? People get over yourselves.

  • Down By Law

    I live in Sunset Park, and I have been to Long Island College Hospital many times, also when my son was small. One thing I thought of when I heard the rumor about the Condos was where would those people go to the hospital? Also, there is a “triangle” effect being threatened at this moment. Potential closings of: Suny/Downstate across from Kings County on Clarkson Avenue, who is trying to take down LICH @ the same time, and Interfaith Hospital on Atlantic Avenue, (formerly St. John’s Hospital). It was named Interfaith because it had merged with Brooklyn Jewish Hospital which is now an apartment complex on Prospect Place. This is a BIG problem should they all close. Many people cannot reach Manhattan in an emergency. It should not be looked on as the “Promised Land” for medical care. This is poor planning on the behalf of our politicians not to intervene, as I agree with many of the “posters”. There should be an Eminent Domain move for the state to step in if needed. I don’t think Suny/Downstate (or University Hospital) should be allowed to close due to the preservation of life concept.@0ef0fbc16269e6ce83ad94638e911ac3:disqus