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The reported probe comes on the heels of a New York Post report where employees called the emergency department a “war zone,” which may be a danger to patients.
“Governor Cuomo has directed the New York State Department of Health to review the complaints made against the hospital in this story and, if warranted perform an investigation into any credible allegations,” a Cuomo spokesperson said. “The reports of mistreatment of patients is horrific and unacceptable.”
According to the reports, multiple members of the hospital, the staff has become overwhelmed and is understaffed. Nurses have reportedly been tasked with treating nearly 20 patients per shift and the “war zone” resulted in at least one patient going into cardiac arrest without a single medical professional noticing.
City Council members in the four boroughs reportedly also expressed their displeasure about the issued at Mount Sinai Hospital.
"As part of our continuous pursuit of excellence, we undertook a strategic review of the Emergency Department back in 2016," a Mount Sinai spokesperson said. "This report in no way reflects the current status of our Emergency Department. Currently, patients admitted through the Mount Sinai Hospital Emergency Department with heart attacks, heart failure, severe lung conditions and stroke have among the best survival rates in the nation.
"Additionally, since the review was issued over three years ago, we have made major investments and improvements to the Emergency Department, including adding over 130 additional employees, spanning all categories of clinical and support staff. We have also opened the Mount Sinai Express Care facility on the same block to alleviate Emergency Department crowding by taking care of patients with less serious conditions in a separate location. Now, we have plans for a complete renovation of both our emergency department and our observation unit to more than double the number of treatment locations and further improve patient care."
“The serious issues outlined in the report commissioned by Mount Sinai three years ago are very disturbing, and the claims highlighted in this article by multiple nurses show that little has apparently changed at a critical hospital in our city,” Councilwoman Carlina Rivera stated.“When nurses are forced to take care of 18 patients at a time — regardless of whether they have been officially assigned to them — in order to make sure patients are receiving life-saving treatment, it just shows why the state Legislature must pass real safe staffing laws in 2020."
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