NYU withdraws from LICH deal, throwing sale of hospital into disarray
Follows SUNY vs. NYSNA hearing in Brooklyn on Thursday
In yet another twist to the long-running Long Island College Hospital (LICH) saga, NYU Langone Medical Center announced late Thursday that it has pulled out of the deal to offer emergency services and ambulatory care at the LICH site in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
The withdrawal appears to leave the Fortis Property Group’s proposal to buy LICH in tatters. While the proposal did not include a hospital, Fortis won the bid to buy the Cobble Hill hospital campus substantially on the strength of the medical offerings proposed by NYU.
NYU said in a statement that their decision came after state Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes on Thursday “ordered NYU Langone’s direct involvement in the lawsuit between New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and State University of New York (SUNY).”
In that lawsuit, NYSNA demanded that SUNY enforce a commitment by NYU to rehire LICH nurses at a walk-in emergency department at LICH. Nurses said that NYU failed to reach out to them, however, and SUNY disputed that the commitment to rehire them was mandatory. (The full report of Thursday’s hearing may be found here.)