It is a new year, so about time for another celebrity breakdown in a hotel, eh? In the same vein as Charlie Sheen trashing the Plaza's Eloise Suite and Daniel Baldwin's naked run in that same hotel (shouting "BALDWIN!") the News reports that Christian skater and sometimes musician Jereme Rogers went on a angel dust-fueled rampage through the Afinia Shelburn Hotel's 11th floor hallway this morning around 9:30 a.m. Which must have been one heck of a wake up call for some travelers! more ›

Daniel Ignacio, the man accused of setting the fire that killed five Guatemalans in Brooklyn last week, continues to spew about the devil and the evil spirits that prompted the act, from the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital. "It must have been the Devil. It could not have been Jesus Christ," he said "I know I have to face a living hell now and God's judgment later." Still, since allegedly telling cops he lit the fire with a cigarette lighter, he’s changed his story—now he insists it was all an accident, caused by six plus bottles of vodka. And Satan, of course. more ›

The body of officer Angel Brito lay in the morgue of Bellevue Hospital, where he worked, for two months until fellow officers finally claimed it yesterday. Brito, 49, had no family, so when he died in his East Village apartment of natural causes on November 4th, his body was sent to the hospital he had spent the last 14 years protecting. more ›

The sixteen-year-old confessed killer of WABC news reporter George Weber told the press yesterday that they would have to pay up if they wanted to get an interview with him. During a visiting session at the Bellevue psych ward where John Katehis is being held, he shouted at local reporters, "Is this a cash offer? Cash offers only!...Cash offers only!" A classmate of the teenager's, who was also there to see him, told both local tabloids, "John was never the fighting type. I don't think anyone was afraid of him. I wished he would explain to me why. This is not usually him." But the Post spotted the other boy attempt to talk to Katehis, only to have the murder suspect say to him, "I always hated you at school. Stop wasting my visits." more ›

New York Magazine has a big feature on Bellevue Hospital, looking at its history and future, as the Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital at 30th Street and First Avenue is up for development--"Yesterday’s asylum, tomorrow’s boutique hotel" (the hospital will still exist, as it has other buildings in the area). Former chief psychologist Frederick Covan says, "It takes a lot to get into Bellevue... [It's not for] "some Upper East Side suicidal neurotic or whatever—they’d go to NYU Medical Center next door. Our patients were the ones with no money, no resources, and multiple stressors.” Like this man at the beginning of the article: "Last fall, a 26-year-old man drew the attention of pedestrians on West 47th Street. He seemed slightly agitated. Finding the door to the Olive Garden locked, he went into Tad’s Steakhouse, briefly climbed onto the counter, then left. As he paced the sidewalk, he checked his cell-phone messages. Other than a single black sock, which he later removed, the cell phone was the only thing he was wearing." more ›

In today's Times there's a bracing look at a day in the life of Dr. William Goldberg, the man calling the shots at the Bellevue Hospital E.R. on Mondays. "The E.R. is a window on society," said Dr. Goldberg. "Whatever troubles the city has, the underlying problems, we always see them here." By that measure, New York has some issues: "[His team] had a fairly average caseload for a Monday: a rectal bleed, a vaginal bleed, chest pains with anxiety and a forehead laceration...The chest pains case would refuse his medication. The rectal bleed would angrily demand that he be discharged...Three more stretchers would appear outside the door. Then the phone would ring: A head case was arriving. Seven minutes out. Dr. Goldberg would, at this point, permit himself a grin. 'O.K.,' he said — and the irony was deserved — 'at least it’s picking up.'" more ›

Crown Heights is up in arms about a Manhattan center for homeless men moving in. The NY Sun reports on the intake center, currently housed at Bellevue and which may move to the Bedford-Atlantic Armory Shelter. At a community board meeting this week, the residents expressed their anger, one stating: "Now that we can walk outside without getting shot, you've decided to throw sand back on our heads." Others fear the neighborhood fall victim to an increase in crime and a decrease in the value of the brownstones. A homeless man who has been to the Armory Shelter said he's "seen people openly shoot heroin, shoot crack, smoke weed" there and that placing the city's main intake hub in the dysfunctional facility "is totally and utterly absurd." The plan still needs to be approved by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. more ›

It was bound to happen: YouTube-itis, or more accurately "Truman Show Delusion," which is what doctors are calling the malady that has patients claiming they're starring in their own reality television shows. Joel Gold of Bellevue Hospital is currently treating five patients with the disease that he says "involves the entire world." The patients are men between the ages of 25 and 34 who believe they are the "focus of attention by millions and millions of people" and that everyone has been written into their script. One patient said "he planned to climb to the top of the Statue of Liberty, and if his true love were waiting for him, the puppeteer strings would be cut. If she failed to show up, he would jump to his death." There's clearly only one way to stop this disease from spreading: end all reality television. more ›

The man who is suspected of killing an Upper East Side psychiatrist and injuring her colleague will be given his anti-psychotic and mood-stabilizing medication by court order. State Supreme Court Justice John E.H. Stackhouse granted Bellevue doctors permission to medicate David Tarloff, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. more ›

Many have characterized New York City's real estate boom as insane, and this latest chapter adheres to that theme. The imposing and occasionally frightening-looking Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital on Manhattan's 1st Ave. may be transformed into a luxury hotel. more ›

David Tarloff, who is accused of slaying an Upper East Side therapist with a meat cleaver, is apparently getting some bad treatment himself on Rikers Island. Reportedly he isn't receiving his medication properly, or at all. more ›

That report of an EDP near Herald Square this morning? It turns out a man stabbed a woman - in the lobby of the Manhattan Mall! The Post says the woman was "stabbed in the back, arm and wrists" during the morning rush hour. The lobby was covered in blood, forcing the building to close the West 33rd Street entrance. The victim and attacker were both taken to Bellevue. The victim is described as the... more ›