Judge warns SUNY: Special Administrator for LICH may be appointed
Judge Baynes: Closing ER at LICH violates court order
Saying that SUNY’s decision to reduce staff levels and bar ambulances from the emergency room at Long Island College Hospital (LICH) was a “clear violation” of his court order, a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge said last week that he might go so far as to appoint a special administrator or special master to oversee LICH.
According to the court transcript of Wednesday’s proceedings, Judge Johnny Lee Baynes said that if SUNY Downstate had “actually barred ambulances” from the LICH ER, “that is in violation, clear violation of my order.”
A closed conference between lawyers from SUNY, LICH, the state Department of Health and Judge Baynes took place Monday afternoon. Reporters were not allowed inside the courtroom, but sources told the Brooklyn Eagle that SUNY has been ordered to report back Tuesday regarding their compliance with the Temporary Restraining Order.
Barred by the order from closing LICH outright, SUNY Downstate maintains they had to close the ER, psychiatric and critical care areas of LICH because of a critical shortage of staff, a situation compounded by SUNY’s elimination of the residency program at LICH.