Re: SUIT: HOSP A FIRETRAP

[Guest guest]

The posting of the story about mold in Maimonides Hospital, in

Brooklyn, prompted me to send this email to the N.Y. Post writer.

While my email is 5 years late, from when I SHOULD have written it, I

feel a lot better for finally having written it. WE ALL HAVE TO FIGHT

BACK. It's never too late to save someone else's life, with the

knowledge that we have. - Joe

..............................................................

Emailed to N.Y. Post:

I read your article in July 28 paper. If you really would like to do

an investigative piece of journalism on a closely related item, here

is something you should look into. Maimonides Hospital has a bridge

connecting it directly to a nursing and rehabilitation facility,

across the street from the hospital. It is the Metropolitan Jewish

Geriatric Center. When a patient is discharged from the hospital, but

still needs short term non-acute therapy to regain their strength,

the hospital automatically recommends admission to that nursing

facility. Since Medicare pays for 3 weeks of such therapy, almost

100% of discharging patients accept the hospital's recommendation,

and are wheeled across the bridge, by HOSPITAL staff. The problem is,

the Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric facility is saturated with a

massive MOLD INFESTATION, which quickly makes the patient, if he/she

is mold-sensitive, deathly ill, and the patient then has to be

wheeled back across the bridge, to be re-admitted back into

Maimonides. In essence, the patient becomes a ping-pong ball, being

constantly shuttled back and forth, until he/she is dead from mold

exposure related illnesses, or the worsening of pre-existing health

problems, due to mold exposure. While I have no " proof " of my

allegations of " mold infestation " , here is my personal experience

that made me aware of the situation. About 5 years ago, my mother,

now deceased, was admitted to that nursing home, in the manner

described above. Luckily, she was not a mold-sensitive person AS I

AM. After 2 or 3 days, of my visiting her, in the nursing home, I

became deathly ill, from a well recognized set of symptoms, that I

had previously become aware of, as being the effects of mold. As she

did not seem to be affected by the mold (only 3% to 20% of people are

mold sensitive), and my father did not understand the harm that mold

can do, He decided to leave her in the nursing home, for the 3 weeks

that Medicare would pay for. Luckily, it was summertime, so that she

could be wheeled outside, to permit me to visit with her, as I could

not step inside the building. There are benches outside, so it was

not unpleasant, even though I worried about the impact of the mold

that she was being exposed to. I phoned the New York State Nursing

Home Ombudsman, to report the unhealthy condition, and was told that

they only concern themselves with complaints from patients/family who

are long-term residents. They do not even take complaints from

patients/family of short term residents. Now, this is the important

part, as far as your investigation is concerned. I decided to go to

the executive offices of the nursing home, which are located around

7th Avenue and 63rd street, Brooklyn, and NOT in the nursing home

itself. I just wanted to make them aware of the situation, and NOT to

sue anyone. When I arrived, they kept me waiting, in the waiting

room, for about 3 hours. During this long wait, I struck up a

conversation with a person who happened to be an employee of the

nursing home, who was waiting to get her disability forms to give to

her union. She told me that 67 employees of the nursing home had

gotten sick from a " mysterious illness " , in addition to many patients

that had gotten sick. So, I thought to myself, " if they don't care

about the health and safe working conditions of their own employees,

they would not listen to an (unprovable) complaint of a family member

of one of their patients. So, as I was already late for another

appointment, I got up and left. When I told my parents that I wanted

to report the mold to the union which represents the nursing home

employees, they told me that they were afraid to do anything that

might jeopardize my mother's pension, as a retired member of the same

union. If you want to start looking under a few rocks, to see what

crawls out, you should start by contacting the union. I am sure that

they will cooperate with you, on any investigation you may want to

do, about unsafe work conditions affecting the health of their

members.

Local 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers, 310 West 43rd Street, New

York, N.Y. 10036, President: Gresham

Another good source to check whether the nursing home has a greater

number of deaths and discharges back to hospital , than the New York

State average, is:

Division of Accreditation Operations

Office of Quality Monitoring

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)

One Renaissance BoulevardOakbrook Terrace, IL. 60181

I am available, anytime, anywhere, to assist you. Joe Salowitz

.......................................................

--- In , " tigerpaw2c " <tigerpaw2c@...>

wrote:

>

> SUIT: HOSP A FIRETRAP

> New York Post*

> By ALEX GINSBERG

> July 28, 2008

>

> Brooklyn's Maimonides Medical Center regularly flaunts fire-safety

> regulations and permits revolting accumulations of sewage and mold,

> according to a lawsuit filed by a former executive.

>

> Abrams, the one-time assistant vice president for human

> resources at Maimonides, says she was fired after she blew the

> whistle on illegal, dangerous and nauseating conditions at the

> hospital, according to the suit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

> Abrams also claims that the hospital shut down a sewage pump on

> weekends, causing a stench to descend on the Health Information

> Services Department, whose office had mold growing on the ceiling

> tiles.