Bronx Man Dies After Waiting Hours For E.R. To Treat His Rash

Berger Commission and Medicaid Redesign Team hospital closings created failures that have led to long E.R. wait times in New York

• From The Gothamist : Man Dies After Waiting Hours For ER To Treat His Rash

A Bronx man who went to Saint Barnabas Hospital to get his rash checked out was found dead in the emergency room waiting room after an eight hour wait. John Verrier, 30, went to St. Barnabas at 10 p.m. last Sunday night; he was found dead by a security guard around 6:40 a.m. the next day. "He was found stiff, blue and cold," a hospital employee told ABC News. "He died because [there's] not enough staff to take care of the number of patients we see each day. We need more staff at Saint Barnabas."

Verrier had his vitals taken when he first got to the hospital, then told to wait for a doctor to see him. Hospital spokesman Steve Clark told the Post that Verrier's name was called "two or three times" between his arrival and 2 a.m. A security guard passed through the waiting room around 2 a.m. to wake up the many homeless people who sleep there, and Verrier was "moving, he was alive." Then when the security guard passed again around 6 a.m., he was dead.

Clark added that an in-house review found “all guidelines were met.” But the hospital worker who spoke to ABC said nobody was really checking on him: "There's no policy in place to check the waiting room to see if people waiting to be seen are still there or still alive." That worker says Verrier's name was called over the PA three times, but "based on number of people in the waiting room it is impossible to check on each person physically."

New York State is ranked 46th in the country in overall emergency room waiting time. St. Barnabas is the worst in the city when it comes to the average time patients spent in the emergency room before being sent home: it's 306 minutes there, compared to a 155 minute wait statewide and the average 137 minute wait nationally.

• RELATED : Industry sources said recent hospital closures have contributed to longer wait times. You could die waiting in New York hospitals * The New York Post
• RELATED : Former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch asks how Gov. Andrew Cuomo can propose $2 billion in tax cuts in the face of great social needs. Richard Ravitch’s Reaction to the Budget Plan * Capital Tonight (Registration Required)

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Amanda Burden Approves Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Plan For St. Vincent's Hospital

The controversial and scandalous Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Plan for St. Vincent's Hospital was unanimously approved the New York City Planning Commission. The Planning Commission Director Amanda Burden said that she was pleased to see more and more luxury condominiums replacing social safety net underpinnings, such as community hospitals. Word on the street is that, after the luxury condo conversion hearing, Bill Rudin asked if Ms. Burden would like any campaign contributions the way that the Rudin family have made campaign donations to New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Lenox Hill Hospital - Closing Its Maternity Wing for Beyoncé's Celebrity Birth

Updated with photo of Blue Ivy Carter : Beyoncé's Celebrity Birth : Lenox Hill will evict the 99% out of hospital beds, so that it can cater to the 1%.

With more and more hospitals closing in the New York City area, Manhattan's luxury Lenox Hill Hospital closed one of its wings to accommodate Beyoncé Knowles' celebrity birth.

According to The New York Daily News and TMZ.com, Beyoncé and Jay-Z paid $1.3 million to "seal off a private wing of the hospital" so that Beyonce could give birth to Blue Ivy Carter.

Critics of Lenox Hill Hospital claim that the hospital dually limited patients' access to healthcare and limited visitors' access to patients during the security "lockdown."

According to The New York Times, compliance staff from the New York State Department of Health were in contact with Lenox Hill Hospital, to determine whether Lenox Hill Hospital was in violation of regulations by the extreme "lockdown" conditions in its celebrity maternity ward.

According to TMZ.com, a breastfeeding mother support group is threatening to sue Lenox Hill Hospital as a result of the hospital giving priority healthcare to celebrities (the 1%) -- at the cost of throwing out average patients (the 99%).

No comment yet from North Shore-LIJ, the parent holding company for Lenox Hill Hospital, whether this is how they will treat average health care patients at the new Lenox Hill urgent care clinic at the O'Toole building.

With St. Vincent's closed, the West Side still has no hospital beds below 57th Street. How can we bring a hospital back to our community ?

How can we get true universal healthcare ? Come Join the Discussion ! RSVP at the Facebook page for the Luxury Condos Can't Do CPR ! St. Vincent's Community Assembly.