The staff of St. Vincent's Hospital received termination notices Monday, just days after word came that the hospital will end its in-patient services because of its financial woes.
State and federal law mandates that employees, including doctors, nurses, and other staff, be given termination notices.
The top management of the hospital also faced the budget ax, The New York Times reported. Henry Amoroso, the hospital's chief executive; Arthur Y. Webb, its chief operating officer; and Bart Metzger, its human resources chief were asked to leave the organization or else be terminated, according to the Times. Amoroso opted to resign while Webb and Metzger "left the organization," St. Vincent's spokesman Michael Fagan told the Times.
As of this weekend, ambulances are no longer sent to St. Vincent's. Walk-in patients will still be treated.
The debt-strapped Greenwich Village institution, which was built in 1849, will close its doors on April 30. It's hopes of staying open were dashed when it was unable to secure a partner. The state has also been unable to give a little more than a life-line to the hospital as it deals with $9 billion in debt.
Some staff members at the Greenwich Village institution pointed fingers at the state health commissioner, Dr. Richard. F. Daines, suggesting that he dissuaded Mount Sinai Medical Center from taking over St. Vincent's. The doctors told the Times that Daines was trying to help his former employer St. Lukes-Roosevelt hospital by reducing its competition. The doctors could offer no support for their accusations.
“Something happened,” Dr. David Kaufman, associate medical director of the St. Vincent's H.I.V. center told the Times. “There was some communication between Mount Sinai and the state, and essentially the deal dropped dead.”
A spokeswoman for Dr. Daines said such accusations were "absolutely untrue."
