Judge halts plan to close Long Island College Hospital
A state judge has temporarily stopped the State University of New York from moving forward with plans to close Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, the New York Times reports.
The decision comes the same week that SUNY submitted its official closure plans to state health authorities. The SUNY board of trustees voted earlier this month to close the hospital as an in-patient facility, citing financial troubles.
A group of doctors at the hospital and two unions petitioned to invalidate the SUNY trustees’ vote, saying the trustees violated the state’s Open Meetings Law by holding a private meeting before voting. The judge, Justice Betsy Barros, set a hearing for March 7.
Officials have said the hospital, which is run by SUNY Downstate Medical Center, has been losing $4 million a month.
Opponents to the plans to close the school say it would be devastating to the local community, and have accused Downstate Medical Center of wanting to sell off valuable real estate in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn.
