Mount Sinai Health System has officially pulled the plug on Manhattan’s Beth Israel Hospital.
At 8 a.m. Wednesday, the historic Gramercy health hub, at 16th St. and First Ave., shuttered its emergency room, the last part of the 135-year-old hospital still functioning.
The previous morning, the New York Appellate Division had ruled in favor of Mount Sinai against a community lawsuit filed to block the closure, which, in turn, lifted a restraining order, allowing the final shutdown to proceed.
In an email after the court’s ruling Tuesday, Brendan Carr, C.E.O. of Mount Sinai Health System, wrote, in part, “This is the final step in the execution of our comprehensive closure plan that was approved by [the state Department of Health] in July 2024. … We have sent electronic and paper messages to more than 55,000 of our patients to ensure they have information on the closure.”
To provide at least some local health care, Mount Sinai on Tuesday morning opened an “expanded urgent-care center” nearby on E. 14th St., at Mount Sinai’s New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, to operate 24/7, seven days a week.
Opponents argued Mount Sinai “sabotaged” Beth Israel after acquiring it, transferring its profitable departments to Mount Sinai’s other hospitals, causing Beth Israel to lose $1 billion in the past decade.
Greenwich Village attorney Arthur Schwartz, who brought the community lawsuit, had hoped to appeal the court ruling, but realized it would be futile.
“By the end of today,” he said Wednesday, “there’ll be no equipment left in the emergency room. … With the City of Yes rezoning, that property is now probably worth $1.2 billion.”
