Wednesday, June 20, 2012

DOB shuts down Brooklyn clinic


From the Daily News:

A Coney Island medical building has been abruptly shuttered because of safety violations - leaving doctors and patients out in the cold.

The five doctors whose offices are at 2965 Ocean Parkway have not been able to treat sick patients city officials closed the building last Tuesday after inspectors discovered there was no emergency exit.

“It’s a terrible situation. My patients rely on my care and I have no access to them,” said Dr. Alexander Shekhter, an internist, who was worried about his mostly elderly Russian patients.

“These are patients in wheelchairs and patients on Medication,” said Shekhter. “They shut us down without any warning. If I violated something I understand, but the Dept. of Buildings has nothing to do with medical care.”

Buildings Dept. officials aren’t letting anyone into the four-story 3,300 square-foot building, which has only has one staircase and no emergency exit, according to documents posted on the agency’s website.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This seems to be a heck of a lot more of a problem than the article suggests - and one that the owners (and surely the tenants!) have known about for years.

Lacking a secondary exit, particularly in a class 3 non-fire-proof building serving people with mobility impairments, is potentially deadly.

Building an extra floor - illegally: no permits, no pland, no nothing - is likewise potentially deadly.