BROOKLYN, NY January 23, 2005 —Some Brooklyn residents say hospitals that serve neighborhoods like Bedford Stuyvesant, East New York and Crown Heights are cutting back services, making it difficult to find healthcare. Within the last two years St. Mary's Hospital and Interfaith Medical Center have shutdown their OB-GYN units. Yusenia Gutierrez is a staff attorney with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. She says women must now travel to neighbhorhoods like Park Slope for medical care.

GUTIERREZ: They are out of the way and they are also extremely overbooked... Woodhull for example they can hardly handle the over-flow of obgyn services when we've talked to doctors there and other concerned nurses.

St. Mary's Hospital is run by the financially struggling St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Center Corporation. According to community groups, the hospital is currently trying to merge with Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center. The hospitals could not be reached for comment over the weekend.