Beth Israel Hit with New Restraining Order After Activists Again Try to Block Closure

Mt. Sinai has been hit with a new restraining order blocking it from shutting down Beth Israel, which it wants to close after claiming that the E. 16th hospital has lost around $1 billion in the past decade.

Local healthcare advocates earned the stay with a lawsuit. They note that Beth Israel is not the only unprofitable hospital in the corporation’s Manhattan portfolio, and believe that Mt. Sinai is instead trying to take advantage of the lucrative real estate underneath it.

The umbrella of advocates who made the filing refer to themselves as the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel and the NY Eye & Ear Infirmary. There was already one restraining order in place as recently as this week, which the Coalition earned in March. That restraining order was lifted on Aug. 12 after Judge Nicholas Moyne dismissed the Coalition’s original lawsuit, citing the NYS Department of Health’s sign-off of Mt. Sinai’s modified closure plan last month. However, Judge Moyne noted that he was doing so without “prejudice,” allowing the plaintiffs to submit a slightly altered iteration of the suit that challenges the DOH’s decision.

Two days after the original suit was tossed, the coalition filed a new version before Judge Jeffrey H. Pearlman, who handed down the new temporary restraining order against Mt. Sinai on August 15.

“The DOH approval is arbitrary and capricious, reflecting an ongoing lack of concern for the healthcare of the residents of Manhattan,” the plaintiffs write in their latest suit. They reemphasized that Beth Israel’s closure would mean that only one branch of a major hospital, an outpost of NewYork-Presbyterian on William St., would be available for hundreds of thousands of downtown New Yorkers.

The DOH fired back in a letter to the judge. Nicole Gueron, an attorney speaking on behalf of the agency, wrote that the Coalition’s “requested preliminary relief as to [the] DOH is procedurally improper and entirely nonsensical, and should be denied as such.”

After the DOH’s July 26 approval of Mt. Sinai’s closure plan, the corporation acknowledged that the original restraining order was still preventing it from determining Beth Israel’s ultimate closure date. Mount Sinai had hoped to originally stop services on July 12, but the DOH was also still reviewing the modified closure plan then, which was an additional roadblock. The latest restraining order has obviously created a fresh headache for Mt. Sinai when it comes to that final date.

The Coalition’s latest lawsuit repeats this argument. It also reiterates allegations that Mt. Sinai’s closure of Beth Israel has violated public health, environmental, and human rights laws.

Beth Israel opened as a hospital for Jewish immigrants, who could face discrimination at other hospitals, in 1890. It has since evolved into a major teaching hospital that serves patients of all backgrounds.

The series of restraining orders is not the only legal rebuke Mt. Sinai has faced during its long battle to shutter Beth Israel. Last December, Mt. Sinai received a cease-and-desist from the DOH, after it began closing the hospital’s services without prior approval. Then, this April, the corporation’s first stab at a closure plan was rejected by the state agency (hence the need for a revised plan, which was the one approved in July).

Mt. Sinai did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.