Brooklyn DA Begins Probe of SUNY Downstate JULY 25 LICH to Remain Open; Good Morning
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
w Facebook.com/ Twitter.com Volume 59, No. 74 THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2013 BrooklynEagle.com BrooklynEagle @BklynEagle 50¢ BROOKLYN TODAY Brooklyn DA Begins Probe of SUNY Downstate JULY 25 LICH to Remain Open; Good morning. Today is the 206th day of the year. Supporters March On July 25, 1897, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle car- On City Hall ried an article titled, “The London Theaters: Emma By Mary Frost Bullet Compares Them Brooklyn Daily Eagle The Brooklyn District Attor- With Those of Paris.” Her ney’s Office confirmed on article focused more on the Wednesday that it is investigat- audience and the theaters ing possible criminal behavior themselves than with the on the part of SUNY Downstate actors and the performanc- Medical Center administrators es. For example, she ob- for their alleged attempts to shut serves that women in Lon- down Long Island College Hos- don come to the theater pital in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. “bare-headed,” meaning “We have opened an investi- without bonnets, and she gation into the case referred to approvingly says that us by Justice Baynes [Supreme brings out their natural Court Justice Johnny Lee beauty. She also writes Baynes],” Jerry Schmetterer, a about the paintings on the spokesman for District Attorney walls and vases containing Charles Hynes, told the Brook- fresh flowers as well as the lyn Eagle on Wednesday. elaborate costumes worn Schmetterer said the Rack- by the actors and actresses. BROOKLYN HEALTHCARE SUPPORTERS HELD A “FUNERAL MARCH” FOR LICH AND INTERFAITH MEDICAL CENTER ets Division was investigating the case. Please turn to page 3 on Wednesday afternoon. They blocked traffic as they marched over the Brooklyn Bridge from Cadman Plaza Park to City Hall. A “funeral band” played, people dressed in black carried “caskets,” and many engaged in mock-crying. Eagle photo by Mary Frost On Tuesday, Public Advo- cate Bill de Blasio said at a Manhattan press conference, “When a state court judge refers a case to the Brooklyn DA, it suggests the level of danger ’Ridge Urgent Care Center is SUNY is putting patients in.” The DA could consider crimi- nal charges related to denying Safe, SUNY Downstate Claims or obstructing medical care at By Paula Katinas the hospital five years ago. the Cobble Hill hospital. Brooklyn Daily Eagle Like LICH, which loses a WPIX Channel 11 reported The turmoil surrounding ef- reported $15 million a month, that the State Attorney Gener- forts by the State University of Victory Memorial Hospital was al’s office has initiated a sepa- New York Downstate Medical hemorrhaging money, accord- rate investigation. Center to close Long Island ing to officials. When it closed Since SUNY ordered a College Hospital (see story, in 2008, it had amassed nearly LICH ambulance diversion and above) has led to speculation in $100 million in debt. shut down most of the hospital, Southwest Brooklyn that SUNY Downstate got per- emergency rooms at other hos- SUNY will next take its budget mission from the Department of pitals in Brooklyn have experi- ax to the medical facility it oper- Health to reconfigure the Victo- enced long and potentially dan- ates in Bay Ridge. ry site as an urgent care center, a gerous delays. SUNY Downstate at Bay type of medical clinic that treats LICH medical staff said that Ridge, located at 9036 Seventh walk-in patients with non-emer- Downstate prevented them Ave. at the site of the former gency conditions. An urgent from treating patients, eliminat- Victory Memorial Hospital, is care center is a step removed ed services and transferred pa- an urgent care center that from an emergency room, tients from LICH over the SUNY opened after the New where doctors treat everything “VICTIMS” OF A SIMULATED DISASTER WERE SCATTERED THROUGHOUT CADMAN PLAZA EAST weekend in violation of a re- York State Department of from gunshot victims to patients in Downtown Brooklyn late Tuesday as part of a Community Emergency Response Team volun- straining order issued by Justice Health ordered the closure of Please turn to page 3 teer training drill. See story, page 3. Eagle photo by Mary Frost Please turn to page 3 BEAT Fest Preview Mike Long Wants Term Limits in State Gov’t Cop-Killer Gets At MetroTech By Paula Katinas would get no more than six Death Penalty After a successful inaugural Brooklyn Daily Eagle terms, or 12 years, in Albany. A jury in Brooklyn Federal season, BEAT Festival organiz- Every member of the state “We hear a lot of talk about Court on Wednesday gave con- ers will announce their second Legislature is going to receive a fixing Albany and about getting victed cop-killed Ronell Wilson annual lineup of innovative letter from Mike Long next rid of the corruption. But noth- the death penalty on Wednes- emerging Brooklyn artists in week, but the New York State ing they’re doing is going to ad- day — the latest chapter in a theater, dance and voice on Conservative Party chairman dress the problem,” Long told case that's seen his original Thursday, July 25 at 11 a.m. at isn’t writing to find out how the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on death sentence overturned, his La Defense Bakery & Bistro, 2 their summer vacations are Wednesday. If legislators knew behind-bars affair with a prison MetroTech Center. The an- going. they only had a limited time to guard exposed and the massive serve, they would concentrate nouncement will feature a per- The party is re-launching an cost of his defense questioned. on getting things done for the formance from street dance leg- effort to install term limits in An earlier trial had found end Storyboard P. state government, and Long is benefit of New Yorkers, instead of putting all of their focus into Wilson guilty in the point-blank The festival will be held looking for lawmakers brave shootings of undercover offi- from Sept. 12 to 21, with a enough to introduce legislation. getting re-elected, he said. Besides, said Long, “all of cers James Nemorin and Rod- focus on site-specific, journey- Under the Conservative ney Andrews. The gunman shot Party plan, a governor would be our presidents are limited to two based performances in non-tra- both men in the head after one limited to two terms, or eight CONSERVATIVE PARTY CHAIRMAN MIKE LONG, LEFT, AND terms, and the country is fine ditional venues spanning four pleaded for his life. See story, Brooklyn communities. years in office, and members of state Senator Marty Golden (R-C Bay Ridge-Southeast Brook- with that.” the state Senate and Assembly lyn) at an event in Bay Ridge. Eagle photo by Paula Katinas Please turn to page 3 page 12. Thursday, July 25, 2013 • Brooklyn Daily Eagle • 1 REVIEW AND COMMENT Letters To The Editor A Light-hearted Look? One of the Crippling Costs of Healthcare: Med-mal Insurance The looming threat of yet another Brooklyn Our state needs to pass true reforms to decrease hospital is a sad reminder of just how broken New the cost of medical liability insurance, increase the ac- York’s medical liability system really is. The citi- cess to healthcare and stop closures of hospitals. We With LICH Almost Gone zens of our state are continuing be held victim this need strong evidentiary standards to weed out the downward spiral substantially limiting access to frivolous cases which represent 30% of medical mal- healthcare. practice cases, according to a study at the Harvard Last year alone New Yorkers paid 127$ million to School of Public Health. Further, our legislature needs Start Living Healthy! subsidize medical-malpractice insurance. Even with to place caps on damages for “pain and suffering” as this subsidy, doctors across the state still pay astronom- many other states have done. Finally, we need put in By Bethan McKernan ical amounts for insurance, some as high as $200,000 place stricter standards for medical “experts” who can Associated Press annually, far more than their counterparts in oth- testify at trial. Until these changes happen, the doors The South Bronx is home to one of the biggest fresh food distribution er states. These high costs are forcing facilities out of of our hospitals will continue to close for good. centers in the world, yet 40 percent of residents tell city officials it’s hard to business and pushing our doctors out of New York to —Thomas B. Stebbins other states where measures have been put in place to find high quality, fresh fruits and vegetables in their neighborhood. Executive Director help alleviate these cost. And, according to officials, the area struggles with obesity and other Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York health problems linked to poor eating. That could be set to change. Two New York City hospitals are joining a national program that lets doctors write high-risk, low-income patients pre- scriptions for fruits and vegetables. The Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program — FVRx — turns local farmers markets into pharmacies. Patients receive $2 of “Health Bucks” cou- pons for each member of the family, and the coupons can be used to buy fresh produce once a week. Health Bucks are redeemable at any of the city’s 142 farmers markets. Seventy families are taking part at Harlem Hospital Center in Manhat- tan and Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx. Tammy Futch’s son was put on the pilot program last year, and since then 11-year-old Ty-J has lost 40 pounds. “My son never ate different vegetables, he was one of those kids who doesn’t like them,” Futch said. “But now he does. We all do,” Futch added that she and her four other children had also benefited.