St. Vincent's to close doors after 150 years

Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center , located in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, is one of the city's oldest hospitals. It has had a rich tradition treating New Yorkers in need despite their ability to pay for services. It treated those affected by the Cholera epidemic in 1849, survivors from the sunken Titanic, and victims of the 9/11 attacks. Though in financial trouble since 2003, St. Vincent's monetary woes have finally caught up with them. With over 700 million dollars in debt and operating costs between 5 and 10 million a month, the hospital is in very real danger of closing its doors to those that depend on them most. St. Vincent's HIV center is one of its most notable programs, and it is one of the most renowned HIV treatment centers in the US. St Vincent's diagnosed some of the very first cases of HIV in the 1980's and currently treats over 4600 patients every year who are afflicted by the disease. Because of St. Vincent's location on the border between Greenwich Village and Chelsea it has been a blessing to the large gay and transgender community there, and recently celebrated its' 20th Anniversary.

So what is in store for the fate on St. Vincent's? What will happen with St. Vincent's is highly contested and very much mimicks the debates we are seeing currently with regard to healthcare. The group Continuum Health Partners had offered to purchase the hospital and turn it into an outpatient facility with limited emergency care, but many people feel that defies the beauty and mission of the facility. Blogs such as FightingBob see the possible restructuring of St. Vincent's as a "serious problem" and wonders, among other things, where the 4800+ admitted HIV patients will turn, and more philosophically, why instituions such as AIG deserve bailouts and St. Vincent's doesnt seem to.

On the other side of the debate there are those that believe St.Vincent's has been propped up for too many years, and only by allowing it to fail in the marketplace can the overall quality of healthcare in the area be improved. Crain's New York Business believes that trying to preserve St. Vincent's will only lead to the degredation of the other hospitals in the area, as the inpatients that can no longer be treated there will be sent to drain the resources of nearby institutions. If Continuum takes over they would assume the 700 million in debt, but they might decide to sell the hospital ( after all the real estate is very valuable) and perhaps building a new hospital, with a clean fiscal slate, might benefit the community more.

On February 7, 2010, NY Governor David Patterson agreed to a 3 million dollar cash infusion into St. Vincent's that would be matched by the hospitals main creditors: TD Bank and GE Capital. This money, though, provides only a temporary solution and is really just enough to cover payroll. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has commented on St. Vincent's plight in his weekly radio show, but has not offered any more financial assitance to the failing hospital and has challanged proponents of its' survival to develop a viable business model.

This is really a tough one. On one hand how can NY city let such a socially respected and charitable hospital fail? What will happen to all those patients who have no where else to go and no other hospitals willing to treat them? On the other, a hospital is ultimately a business, but where should the intersecton between business considerations and medical comittment be drawn? What do you think of both arguments that I have summaized in the article? Does one hold more value to you than the other? Can you rise to Mayor Bloomberg's challenge and suggest a plausable economic way to keep St, Vincent's doors open?

I encourage those local to the New York area as well as those further away to weigh the pros and cons of maintaining St. Vincent's, but I do ultimately believe that we should not turn our backs on all those patients who are still under the care of the hospital. The HIV center in particular is of so much importance to the community, both in treatment and prevention. Spread the word about what is going on with St. Vincent's because, as we all know from the state of the economy the past few years, St. Vincent's is not the only hospital in danger of closing its' doors.