Organized medical emergency response

St. Vincent's Hospital - bankruptcy case update by Yetta Kurland

Community leader and activist, Yetta Kurland, gave a presentation to the Lower Manhattan community on May 13, 2010. Ms. Kurland described the legal process that has been taking place in the community's efforts to intervene, to prevent the full closing of St. Vincent's Hospital.

Ms. Kurland reported that Attorneys for St. Vincent's had opposed the community's attempt in NYS Supreme Court to make the hospital abide by NYS Health Department rules. After being challenged by Attorneys for St. Vincent's Hospital, the venue for the community's lawsuit was changed to bankruptcy court, where the bankruptcy judge claimed jurisdiction over the lawsuit over NYS Health Department rules, but the same judge denied that patients have the ability to sue to enforce NYS Health Department rules.

A classic Catch-22.