Mount Sinai Beth Israel is shutting down services for stroke and cardiac patients this month as a growing number of employees leave its staff, the hospital has confirmed.
The move comes as Mount Sinai aims to close down Beth Israel in Lower Manhattan this year, but has been ordered both by the state health department and state Supreme Court not to shutter any services without their approval.
Ambulances will stop taking all stroke and cardiac patients to Beth Israel on March 10 as part of a “permanent diversion” plan, according to an internal FDNY memo sent out Tuesday and obtained by Gothamist.
The hospital requested the patient diversions because it is allowing its stroke certification and its designation as a STEMI Center to expire, according to Loren Riegelhaupt, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai. The acronym STEMI refers to a kind of severe heart attack.
“Due to the lack of staffing and increasing patient safety concerns, these designations will not be renewed,” Riegelhaupt told Gothamist in response to a query about the FDNY memo.
He added that if any cardiac or stroke patients show up at Beth Israel’s emergency room, they will be treated, stabilized and transferred to other hospitals.
Mount Sinai first announced plans to close Beth Israel this past fall, setting a target date for July 2024. Hospital officials issued a memo in November saying they would reduce services in the months leading up to that date. But Mount Sinai has yet to get state approval for the plan, which prompted the orders from the state health department and court.
Mount Sinai declined to comment on Tuesday about whether the hospital needed or obtained state approval to let its stroke and cardiac designations expire.
State health department spokesperson Erin Clary said the department cannot comment on ongoing investigations. She did not immediately respond to questions about the approval process for these types of changes.
Riegelhaupt said “there have been a large number of voluntary…
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