The New York Downtown Hospital near City Hall is in bad shape, according a new report that calls the place "overwhelmed" and "chaotic."
With just 160 beds, patients are oftentimes stuck in the Emergency Department for days on end, where running-on-empty nurses are harried and overwhelmed with the amount of people. The Post's reporter claims she found loose pills and a broken needle on the floor during a recent visit, while some 20 "moaning" patients waited in chairs. The flood of patients is mainly the result of St. Vincent's Hospital in the West Village closing last year, leaving Downtown Hospital as the only hospital below 16th St.
While chief of emergency medicine Dr. Antonia Dajer insisted that the situation was "well under control," patient reviews aren't exactly glowing. Via Yelp:
"I can honestly only describe their ER as a dangerous, unethical mess that performed a notch above torture... NY Downtown Hospital's ER was dirty, disrespecting, created additional health complications via administration of incorrect medicine & procedures and they were sharply void of any humane caring while on their "forever long shifts". This place is frightening - right out of a third world country."
A recent report from consumer watchdog group Niagara Health Quality Coalition also gave the hospital poor marks, with only half of the hospital's patients reporting that their nurses communicated effectively and that their bathrooms were kept clean. Perhaps this tweet from @EVIE_MszPromo sums it up best: "NEW YORK DOWNTOWN HOSPITAL can SUCK A WHOLE DICK n I hope ya building blow up #ThatIsAll."
