St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan filed for bankruptcy last week and laid off more than 1,000 employees this week as it prepared to close its doors for good by the end of the month.
Officials at the struggling 160-year-old hospital, located in Greenwich Village, cited more than $1 billion in liabilities in court papers connected with last week’s bankruptcy filing. The hospital, which alerted employees on April 7 of plans to close by April 30, has stopped accepting ambulances and fielding 911 calls, closed its doors to inpatient admissions and elective surgery, and has limited emergency care to treating and releasing patients or transferring them to other hospitals.
Only 127 beds in the 727-bed hospital – known for treating hundreds of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and being at the forefront of AIDS treatment – are now being used, including 25 acute-care inpatient beds and 36 beds reserved for mentally ill patients.
According to the New York Times, Monday’s layoffs pared about a third of the hospital staff. The hospital has used emergency loans from the state and lenders to fulfill payroll obligations.
“St. Vincent’s Hospital is deeply grateful for their years of dedication and service, especially during these difficult times,” hospital officials said in a statement announcing the layoffs, which they termed “part of the safe and orderly wind-down of operations.”
A civil rights attorney, Yetta Kurland, filed suit in State Supreme Court Tuesday morning on behalf of area residents, patients and employees asking that the closure be delayed because the state had not fully approved the hospital’s plans.
In an interview with the Times, Claudia Hutton, a spokesperson for the New York State Health Department, agreed that the state had not fully approved St. Vincent’s closure – in particular, plans dealing with outpatient, psychiatric and hospice care – but has no objections to the hospital’s actions so far.
“A private corporation’s board of directors voted themselves out of business,” she said. “Because they are a hospital, we are involved in making sure the overall health of the community is protected, but we cannot force a private company that is losing millions of dollars a week to stay in business.”
Adam C. Rogoff, a lawyer for the hospital who filed the bankruptcy notice in court last week, said 160 patients have been transferred or discharged since then.
“The hospital is working actively – with patient care being our No. 1 priority – to try to move patients to other facilities as expeditiously as we can,” he said.