The board of trustees of the State University of New York voted unanimously Friday morning to close the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn as an in-patient facility. The meeting room at a SUNY building in Midtown immediately erupted in shouts of "Shame! Shame!" from supporters, who said the university had not given the hospital, known as LICH, enough support.

The board that oversees the State University of New York system is meeting Friday morning to decide the fate of the Long Island College Hospital, commonly known as LICH.

As New York State shifts tens of thousands of elderly on Medicaid and Medicare into special HMO’s for long-term care, health officials are giving high marks to themselves and to the private companies they’ve hired to drive down costs and improve care.

Repairs to the New York City hospital are expected to allow a full reopening in early February. Engineers have been working around the clock to make everything is ready. Bellevue hasn't been able to care for trauma patients since the storm. That has put a strain on neighboring hospitals.

Two of Brooklyn’s largest hospitals are in early exploratory talks about joining forces.

Downtown Hospital, the last large healthcare facility below 14th Street in Manhattan, is being primed for a takeover by New York-Presbyterian, one of the region’s largest networks.

In “Rebel without a Cause,” James Dean’s father impotently warns the high-schooler to stay away from gatherings where teens imbibe alcohol.

“You know what kind of drunken brawls those kind of parties turn into,” he says. “It's not a place for kids.”

The NAACP came out against Mayor Bloomberg's ban on large, sugary drinks. WNYC's Fred Mogul and Keli Goff, The Root's political correspondent and writer for their Blogging The Beltway blog, discuss why the NAACP has taken this position.

A struggling Bronx hospital has succumbed to bankruptcy. But unlike many of those serving poor communities, Westchester Square Hospital is being acquired by another institution, which will transform it into a different kind of healthcare facility.

Providing limited service in the emergency room, while also repairing parts of the physical plant damaged by Sandy, has forced Bellevue to improvise, and has taught the staff new things about operating a large urban hospital.

Restaurants, beverage producers and the NAACP are in court on Wednesday challenging the city’s new rule that limits the size of sugary sodas in food service establishments.

The city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation is looking for a piece of high ground in Coney Island to replace a neighborhood health clinic irreparably damaged by Sandy.

A new test developed by local scientists could help doctors rapidly pinpoint the mold in tainted steroids that killed 34 people and sickened more than 600. Thousands more received the injections, without becoming sick — but the illness can take months to develop.

New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation estimates the damage from Sandy will exceed $800 million. The nation’s largest public hospital system announced the preliminary tally Tuesday with Senator Charles Schumer, who is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for financial help.

 

A second fatal subway pushing in less than a month has renewed focus on a New York law that requires some mentally ill people to get psychiatric treatment.

The man charged by Governor Cuomo with devising a rescue plan for Brooklyn’s struggling hospitals says 2012 was a “lost year” – and 2013 could bring more bad news.

Scientists are identifying more and more genetic mutations that increase the risk of cancer and other diseases. There often isn’t much people can do—though a small but growing number of people do have one radical option: surgically remove a seemingly healthy body part that could turn deadly some day. 

The temporary shut-down of Bellevue’s psychiatric ward has led to concerns about possible crowding at the other facilities where patients have ended up—including Kings County Hospital Center, which had a troubled record of caring for the mentally ill even before Sandy struck.

WNYC reporter Fred Mogul updates the state of area hospitals after the storm.

The Manhattan V.A. Hospital — which was damaged severely by Sandy — will partly re-open next March, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. But officials don't know when the heart of the 170-bed facility will come back online.