New York State commission demands hospital closings

The 18-member group was set up by the state legislature over a year ago, with the high-flown name of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century. Its purpose was clearly to provide some political cover for elected officials of the Democratic and Republican parties, who could claim that they had not drawn up the list of health care facilities to be closed and jobs to be eliminated.

Under the legislation that created the Commission, its proposals will automatically become law on January 1, 2007, unless the governor or the state legislature acts to block the entire package, which cannot be amended in any way but must be either accepted or rejected as a whole. The federal government has said that it would provide up to $1.5 billion in funds to meet the short-term closing costs. The entire process is supposed to be completed within 18 months.

Five hospitals in New York City, including Cabrini and St. Vincent’s Midtown in Manhattan, Westchester Square Medical Center in the Bronx, Victory Memorial in Brooklyn, and Parkway in Queens, are among those slated for closure. Two facilities in the Buffalo area in western New York State, Millard Fillmore Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital of Cheektowaga, are also to be shut down. According to the authorities, the 6,400 employees of the affected institutions should have no problem finding jobs at other hospitals, but even if that is the case, they will lose seniority and may have to travel long distances for work.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/dec2006/hosp-d14.shtml