By Carl Campanile and Craig McCarthy | December 19, 2023
FDNY-EMS ambulance crews are no longer transporting stroke patients to the Mt. Sinai-Beth Israel campus as hospital officials in the East Village proceed with a dramatic downsizing and closure plan by next July — which advocates claim could endanger patient care.
“Effective Sunday, December 31, 2023, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital . . . will be on Permanent Diversion for the CCC code, LVO,” FDNY EMS Chief Michael Fields said in a Monday directive.
LVO is code for patients with Large Vessel Occlusion that include patients suffering from a potentially deadly stroke.
Neighborhood advocates fighting to keep Mt. Sinai’s Beth Israel campus open slammed the end of services.
“It totally jeopardizes patient care,” said Arthur Schwartz, a West Village resident.
“It’s a matter of life and death. I had a heart attack in 2017 and was in Beth Israel in ten minutes. It saved my life,” said Schwartz.