A City Betrayed: Beth Israel Hospital Shuttered After 135 Years

Photo credit: VIN News.

At noon, on Wednesday April 9, after 135 years serving the diverse community of Lower Manhattan, Mt. Sinai Hospital System prevailed in its eight-year long effort to close Beth Israel Hospital. Through two major legal battles, the pandemic (which was followed by a promise to “expand the hospital”), the last functioning part of the hospital, its emergency room, shut its doors.

Who should we blame? First villain — Governor Kathy Hochul, who could have kept it open, who openly blessed the closure, and whose lawyers fought for the closure in court. Second — Brendan Carr, the greedy $10 million per year CEO of Mt. Sinai Health System, who is drooling over the property, worth $1.2 billion as a piece of real estate, and who refused, for the last 18 months, to negotiate with community representatives.