#SaveLICH: Millman and de Blasio Intervene to Get Sick Infant Admitted; AG Investigating Disappearance of 81 Year Old with Dementia

By on July 26, 2013 12:19 am in Cobble Hill, Government, Health, Legal, News

Update: LICH still open; another court hearing Wednesday (NY1); another #SaveLICH rally tomorrow (Sunday, July 28) at noon across from the main entrance at 339 Hicks Street.

According to State Assembly Member Joan Millman’s office, administrators at Long Island College Hospital tried to deny treatment to a sick eleven month old infant who had been born at LICH and whose parents brought him there because his doctor was at LICH and they trusted him. This Eagle story reports that, while the administrators initially tried to turn the child away despite the pleas of his parents and his doctor, they relented after Millman and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio intervened on the baby’s behalf.

The Eagle story also quotes PIX11 to the effect that the State Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Office is investigating the mysterious disappearance of Celso Heredia, an 81 year old LICH patient with dementia.

Share this Story:

, , , , , , , ,

←  Older Comments
 →
  • HenryLOL

    It is not immaterial.

  • HenryLOL

    It is not irrelevant. They need to make money and this hospital is a broken mess and they have the right to close it to make more money for their organization. They do not need to keep a hospital here.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Explain, please.

  • Rick

    Claude, you’re right that there is a much bigger issue than whether LICH is an institution for profit or not.
    And clearly they can’t lose money forever and stay afloat, better stewardship is required than that which SUNY has so far provided.
    But I did notice that on LICH’s own official LinkedIn page, they describe themselves as “Nonprofit”.
    And on SUNY Downstate’s website, they describe LICH as follows:
    “LICH is a 516 bed, voluntary, non-profit institution that still serves as a primary teaching affiliate of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center.”

  • Rick

    I think the unions are not really the issue here.

    Whether SUNY is doing something illegal is currently being determined by the courts, independent of the unions.
    And of course by investigations conducted by the Attorney General’s office of both Brooklyn and New York State.

    Ethical or unethical is harder to quantify. But as a non-member of any union, I consider the actions of SUNY regarding LICH and it’s patients to be both unethical and shameful.

  • HenryLoL

    Get a life. this is not school. Stop getting so angry at people who disagree with you.

  • HenryLoL

    This used to be such a great blog. It’s a shame that over the past months it has become a rantfest for the uber liberals with no room for anyone else to express their opinion. All you have to do is disagree and you get jumped on. Cant you see that most of the people that used to enjoy posting here have left?

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    “Cant you see that most of the people that used to enjoy posting here have left”

    Hopefully you will join them.

  • HenryLOL

    Bahahahaha! Again…

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    I guess that means you will continue to comment here and make a total a$$ of yourself.

  • Jorale-man

    I like how the photo is not only there, but it’s the top image on the home page for several days straight. A commentary on media distortion?

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Just took care of that. Now you are greeted by the cover of Swann’s Way.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Somebody (HF?) has now made her look more like herself.

  • MonroeOrange

    ‘i just called SUNY’…somehow i don’t believe that…whom did you speak to?

  • MonroeOrange

    hope you enjoy being stuck in ambulance for 20 mins getting to manhattan or parkslope…your ignorance amazes me…please move, your not welcome in BH bc you care so little about your neighbors and yourself.

  • HenryLOL

    That is funny. YOU are the one that is an A$$. LOL! So foolish you very sad few that think you know this hood. You are the MINORITY! And hoepfully will be leaving soon…

  • Peter Pan

    Someone might have bought him.

  • gbkm

    LICH was breaking even. It just wasn’t getting the money it was earning – because of the shoddy accounts receivable service that SUNY forced them to keep paying $3mil a month to the previous owners for. SUNY then claimed that LICH was losing millions a month – turns out the amount they claimed LICH was “losing” was almost exactly equal to the amount they made LICH pay to the previous owners for that negliegent sevice. LICH was not failing & even the Supreme Court doesn’t believe that it was. That’s why SUNY is ordered to appear on Aug 5 to explain wheres LICH’s money

  • gbkm

    LICH isn’t a for-profit but it’s being closed because Governor Cuomo & his high-roller campaign contributors want a for-profit here.

  • gbkm

    LICH was never a for-profit. For-profit hospitals do not exist in NY – they’re illegal. It’s part of SUNY Downstate now so whatever Downstate is, LICH is – a public facility. It’s employees are the lowest paid of all hospitals in Brooklyn & haven’t even had a raise in 4 years so don’t blame them for the financial problems which rest squarely on the shoulders of Downstate & Continuum. There would have been enough to cover expenses if those administrators hadn’t been siphoning money away & were actually billing for services for the 18mths they owned LICH before announcing they wanted to close it. Sabotage is the word here.

  • gbkm

    he’s behind it all – directing the show. SUNY administrators occupying LICH now are just the hit-men doing the dirty work that he ordered them to do.

  • gbkm

    exactly. The baby’s doctor was in the LICH ER with the baby & on the phone fighting with an administrator at Downstate who, from miles away, was trying to say what care could & could not be provided to the infant that he hadn’t even seen.

  • ursulahahn

    The Gotham Gazette of August 2 reports as follows:
    “Today’s Lead StoryThe Brooklyn Hospital Crisis

    “Yesterday Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn filed a request to close in bankruptcy court. Most of the patients the hospital serves are without insurance and the hospital has suffered greatly sicne the state slashed Medicaid reimbursements. Unless there is somesort of bailout the hospital will close its emergency room in September and close totally in November. The news comes as Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill is on the verge of closure. Public Advocate and Democratic Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has made the hospital issue a focus of his campaign and has gone to court to keep LICH open. He has also released a plan that would create a super-authority to oversee Brooklyn Hospitals that would be run by the mayor and governor. De Blasio has continued to press his long-time friend Gov. Andrew Cuomo to act to save the hospitals. Meanwhile, the Cuomo administration holds out hope that the federal government will approve a request to use $10 billion the state saved from restructuring Medicaid payments to buoy the Brooklyn hospitals.”

    The last sentence seems to shine a light on the crux of the matter.

  • gbkm

    It hits the nail on the head for sure. But LICH is in a different situation than Interfaith. Almost all of Interfaith’s patients are uninsured except for Medicaid. But LICH has the 2nd best payor mix in the borough – a good combination of patients with private insurance, commercial insurance and medicare/medicaid. It did not rely solely on medicad payments. Had SUNY been charging for LICH’s services for the 18 mths before announcing it was closing the hospital, & had Continuum been sending out the bills & processing the accounts receivables that they were still being paid $3mil per month to do, LICH would not be in this situation. Pure mismanagement — or sabotage?

  • ursulahahn

    gbkm, thank you for your comments. Isn’t it ironic that restructuring (i.e., lowering) Medicaid payments results in “savings,” which lead to hospital closings.
    The Brooklyn Paper’s “Explainer” (Aug. 2-8 issue) states one of the restraining orders obtained by Bill DeBlasio has been thrown out on appeal and enforcement of the other two has been suspended until Aug. 7. Furthermore, “… The state, with Gov. Cuomo’s blessing, has done everything to close the hospital … state officials could decide that [a] fine would be a small price to pay for the probably $500-million payday the state gets when it sells the land … to developers, who will most likely bring in residential development, along with some medical component.”
    It seems clear that LICH’s closing was decided a long time ago, and our electeds at the state level could not prevent it. Nevertheless, it would be gratifying to learn what they did in Albany to prevent the unfolding scenario. But hope springs eternal that they will ensure the inclusion of a medical facility in whatever may be built on the LICH site.

  • gbkm

    a pharmacy is “a medical component” . An urgent care center (simple walk-in non-emergent care) is “a health care facility”. LICH already has an urgent care, separate from the ER but at the same entrance. It’s called the Fast Track center. We must be clear & specific: this community needs full emergency services as well & for that it must accept ambulances & have a real ER with the support of back-up hospital services such as OR, critical care, pediatrics, laboratory, radiology, etc. or else it does no good for anyone.

←  Older Comments
 →