A state Supreme Court judge dismissed a lawsuit on Monday that would have stopped Mount Sinai Beth Israel (MSBI) Hospital from closing — paving the way for the hospital’s impending demise.
A group of advocates filed the lawsuit last year in an attempt to save the hospital or at least postpone its closure since it was first announced in 2023. After the judge’s ruling on Feb. 24, Loren Riegelhaupt, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai, said the court recognized the state Department of Health’s (DOH) authority to oversee approval of the closure plan for the hospital.
“Today’s decision, along with the DOH prior approval of our closure plan, means that we will immediately begin implementing the closure of the 16th Street campus of the hospital,” Rieglhaupt said.
Elizabeth Sellman, president and chief operating officer of the 135-year-old hospital, sent a memo to staff that said the hospital will close at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26.
“This date will allow us to ramp down the facility in a manner that is seamless and safe for patients and staff,” she wrote.
As part of the closure plan, MSBI will open on March 26 a new urgent-care center at the nearby New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, which is not closing.
“As part of the transition, we will be opening our new expanded urgent care center located two blocks south of the hospital to coincide with its closure,” Riegelhaupt said.
The urgent care center will accept all forms of health insurance coverage, including Medicaid and Medicare, and will be open daily.
The hospital first announced it would close over a year ago, citing financial losses. However, an active and vocal group of community members, mostly from the Save Beth Israel Hospital organization, has opposed it.
Arthur Schwartz, a lawyer who represented the community members in the legal proceedings, said his clients are “extremely disappointed” in the ruling, adding that the closure leaves the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village without a hospital.
He also said emergency room use is significantly up at the nearest hospitals: NYU Langone and the city-run Bellevue Hospital.
“The governor was determined to shut this hospital down, and the Department of Health did a shoddy assessment of the impact,” Schwartz said. “All the judge said was that the department had great leeway under the law, and though he might have done it differently, he won’t interfere. We hope and expect the Appellate Division to restore the stay.”
Nearly 500 staff members have left the troubled hospital since the closure was first announced. Throughout the ordeal of diminished services, legal proceedings and a looming closure, hospital officials became increasingly concerned about being able to safely provide services as the facility continued to operate.
Throughout the process, MSBI began to reduce services while keeping the emergency room open. It presented a closure plan to the state DOH that was initially rejected but ultimately approved on July 25, 2024.
Riegelhaupt said the hospital is working closely with the DOH, local leaders, staff, patients, and the community to close and begin the transition care.
“The care and safety of our patients has been—and will always be—our top priority and we will do everything in our power to communicate effectively and consistently to ensure our patients remain in the best hands possible,” he said.
Almost all remaining staff are unionized and guaranteed jobs at the same pay in other parts of the Mount Sinai system.
