135-year-old Mount Sinai Beth Israel in Manhattan closes for good after community lawsuit tossed: Unacceptable

Mount Sinai Beth Israel has officially closed, just a day after an appellate judge dismissed a community lawsuit seeking to block the Manhattan hospital’s impending closure.Workers on Wednesday were seen removing signage from the 135-year-old East Village hospital, and its doors were plastered with signs stating the facility was now closed.According to an announcement, the hospital officially closed at 8 a.m.on Wednesday, calling the closure “part of our ongoing transformation downtown.”Brendan Carr, Mount Sinai’s CEO, sent out a staff-wide letter on Tuesday night announcing the move, according to amNY, which stated the hospital’s emergency room — its only operational department — would finally close for good.“To some, the closure of a building may seem like a natural part of doing business, but I know how much this building meant to so many of you,” the letter read.The hospital system also announced the opening of a new urgent care center two blocks from the former Beth Israel.Mount Sinai has sought to close the 700-bed hospital since 2019, saying a lack of patients has led to the facility hemorrhaging $150 million a year, and that there was no viable way to staunch the bleeding.Following the first year of the pandemic, the plans were temporarily shelved, but were revived in 2023.But the move faced stiff opposition from the community, which feared that yet another downtown hospital closure could imperil health outcomes for residents in the area. Downtown New Yorkers have seen two other major hospitals close their doors for good: Cabrini Medical Center in 2008, and St.

Vincent’s in 2010.Health policy advocate Lois Uttley said on social media that Mount Sinai was “leaving a huge swath of Lower Manhattan with no community hospital” — and called the hospital system’s suggestion that patients seek care elsewhere “unacceptable.”Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, who represents the east side of Manhattan in Albany, told NY 1 that whatever r...