Hospital code red

From the NY Post:

At least six of the city’s private hospitals are on life support and could be candidates for retrenchment or even closure, shocking financial records show.

The cash-strapped hospitals include Brookdale, Wyckoff Heights and Interfaith in Brooklyn, Westchester Square in The Bronx and Jamaica and Flushing in Queens.

The troubling deficits and crushing debt were spelled out by the hospitals’ own financial reports filed over the past two years with the state government.

Each of the hospitals’ accountants had warned, “These factors raise substantial doubt about the medical center’s ability to continue as a going concern.”

All the hospitals are considered “safety net” facilities that serve mostly poor, medically underserved neighborhoods.

* Jamaica Hospital had a deficit of $72.18 million in 2009. The Queens facility was “delinquent” in making contributions to union-worker benefit plans.

Despite its woes, Jamaica has agreed to provide one-year severance pay to all its vice presidents and senior managers if there’s a shakeup.

* Flushing Hospital had a deficit of $35.45 million in 2009. It had previously filed for bankruptcy protection in 1998.

Jamaica, Flushing and Brookdale are part of the MediSys Health Network.

Eight city hospitals have closed since 2007.

Corona spa owner charged with practicing medicine without a license

QUEENS SPA OWNER CHARGED WITH UNLAWFULLY PRACTICING MEDICINE AND SERIOUSLY INJURING CLIENT

Allegedly Endangered Patient By Performing Liposuction And Fat Injections;
Patient Hospitalized

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that the owner of a Corona esthetic spa and nutrition center has been charged with unlawfully practicing medicine and endangering the life of a customer by performing liposuction on her stomach and then re-injecting the fat into her buttocks. A week later, the customer sought medical help, underwent life-saving surgery and was hospitalized for five days.

District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant is accused of nearly causing the death of a young woman by performing medical procedures without a license. Her alleged conduct was both dangerous and reprehensible because it exploited the vanity of an individual seeking a more attractive appearance at a reasonable cost and caused her victim to suffer permanent scarring – both physically and emotionally.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Barbara A. Nieto, 27, of 99-05 58th Avenue in Corona, Queens. Nieto, who is licensed to perform appearance enhancement by the New York Department of State, was arraigned on Friday, April 9, 2010, in Queens Criminal Court on charges of second-degree assault, first-degree reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice of medicine. Nieto, who faces up to seven years in prison if convicted, was released on her own recognizance and ordered to return to court on April 27, 2010.

District Attorney Brown noted that appearance enhancement consists of cosmetology, esthetics, nail specialty, natural hair styling and waxing. The District Attorney said that the investigation is continuing and requests other individuals who were treated by the defendant at either Perfect Image Stethics (located at 40-63 Junction Boulevard) or Bell Stetika Esthetics and Spa (located at 93-28A Corona Avenue) to contact his office’s Economic Crimes Bureau at 718-286-6673.

The District Attorney said that, according to the criminal charges, 23-year-old Augusta Velez went to Perfect Image for a consultation and was informed by Nieto of procedures that she could perform which would remove fat from her stomach area and then be re-inserted into her buttocks.

Nieto allegedly told Ms. Velez that the procedure would cost $500. Scheduling an appointment, it is alleged that Ms. Velez returned to Perfect Image on the morning of March 20, 2010, and was taken into a room where Nieto wheeled in a machine that was connected with several hoses. Nieto allegedly injected Ms. Velez with a substance that was supposed to help with pain and then, cutting an opening in her stomach area, used the machine to suction fat from her stomach area. It is similarly alleged that Nieto injected Ms. Velez in the buttocks with a supposed pain relieving substance and then, making two incisions, reinserted the fat into her buttocks. Once Nieto allegedly completed the medical procedures by stitching up the holes in Ms. Velez’s stomach area and buttocks, Nieto allegedly informed Ms. Velez that she would need follow-up massage sessions.

It is further alleged that several days after having the procedure performed, Ms. Velez began to feel severe pain and developed a high fever, which continued for several days. Finding it difficult to walk, Ms. Velez went on March 27, 2010, to Flushing Hospital, where she was diagnosed with
bilateral buttock abscesses and underwent surgery. She remained hospitalized for five days. It is alleged that if Ms. Velez did not seek treatment, she would have developed a septic infection which would have led to death.

Flushing Hospital on its last leg?

From the Daily News:

A Queens judge tossed out a record $15 million jury award won by a Flushing Hospital nurse who said she endured years of sexual harassment by a top-ranking doctor.

Queens Supreme Court Justice Timothy Flaherty cited the nonprofit hospital's crumbling finances in concluding the jury was inflamed more by "passion than reason."

"It is teetering on financial ruin," Flaherty noted, saying the verdict would "further imperil the very survival of the institution."

Assistant principal dies from swine flu

From Newsday:

A hospital official said a school assistant principal has become the first New York City death linked to the swine flu virus.

Flushing Hospital Medical Center spokesman Andrew Rubin said Mitchell Wiener of Intermediate School 238 died Sunday evening. Wiener had been hospitalized and on a ventilator.

New York City Health Commissioner Thomas R. Frieden issued a statement that referred to the increasing number of cases as "a rising tide of flu."

The statement continued: "With the virus spreading widely, closing these and other individual schools will make little difference in transmission throughout New York City, but we hope will help slow transmission within the individual school communities."