11TH HOUR: LICH backers rally in snow, but shutdown is averted
Long Island College Hospital supporters rallied under umbrellas in the blowing snow outside the state Supreme Court Building Friday morning, as a judge prepared to open a hearing on whether SUNY Downstate could proceed with its plan to kill the Cobble Hill hospital.
Inside the courthouse, the judge, Justice Johnny Lee Baynes, soon decided to postpone his ruling, making it clear that the a previously issued stay of execution would remain in effect until he renders a “comprehensive decision.
Patients, staff and local politicians told stories about how the beleaguered hospital was there when they needed it, and pointed out that it the mad rush to harvest its real estate dollars, a study was never carried out on the impact of closing the area’s only health center.