Mike Schweinsburg now waits two months for medical appointments at Bellevue Hospital that he previously could get in two weeks. 

Schweinsburg, who’s being treated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, has been a patient for 10 years. But since Beth Israel Hospital closed in April, the 75-year-old has noticed a stark difference in care at Bellevue with the influx of patients from the shuttered medical facility.

“They failed,” said Schweinsburg, referring to the Department of Health for approving Beth Isreal’s closure. “They absolutely failed in their responsibility to the people of Lower Manhattan.” 

Beth Israel Hospital closed its door due to “insurmountable financial losses,” according to a 2024 statement by Mount Sinai Health System, which acquired the medial facility in 2013 and asked the Department of Health to shut it down in 2023. 

Founded 135 years ago, Beth Israel, located on East 16th Street and First Avenue, was known for serving uninsured and low-income families. It was one of three full-service hospitals, along with NYU Langone Health and Bellevue that serve Midtown East, the East Village and the Lower East Side. 

Now, residents in these neighborhoods are forced to travel greater distances for medical care, while Beth Israel’s former building remains empty.

“I went to the emergency department recently and was hospitalized for 10 days, but eight of those nights and nine of those days were spent in [Bellevue’s] emergency department because they didn’t have a bed upstairs,” said Schweinsburg, the leader of the 504 Democratic Club, a disability rights organization. 

According to the Health Equity Impact Assessment, a study led by the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel, a health advocacy group, and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, patients at Bellevue and NYU Langone had wait times averaging more than three hours between December 2023 and January 2024.

The minutes from a June Manhattan Community Board 2 meeting showed that Bellevue Hospital reported a 50% increase in psychiatric patient admissions following Beth Israel’s closure. 

Now residents who relied on Beth Israel are concerned about overall access to care in the neighborhood.

“Those [other] hospitals are maybe 15 blocks away. That makes a huge difference for older folks, for people with mobility issues, which we see a disproportionate amount of in the Lower East Side,” said Sarah Batchu, a former candidate in this past spring’s New York City Council District 2 race, who called for a replacement hospital when Beth Israel shut down. 

Following the closure, Mount Sinai opened a 24-hour urgent care center at the nearby New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on East 14th Street, but critics said it’s not enough. 

“The idea that the urgent care is some kind of acceptable alternative is nonsense,” said Schweinsburg, who would also like to see the empty Beth Israel building reopened as a full-service hospital.

But not everyone is upset about the shuttered facility.

Sean-Patrick Hillman, who’d been a Beth Israel patient since he was 2 years old, said he’d been dissatisfied with the hospital multiple times. He cited an experience last summer when he fell on his shoulder while skateboarding and went to Beth Isreal to receive care. As a former fire department medic, he said nurses misdiagnosed him with a sprain. 

“I literally walked out and I went to NYU [Langone],” said Hillman. “Sure enough I was diagnosed with a full rotator tear and in dire need of surgery.” 

Hillman blamed Beth Israel’s lack of transparency on his poor experience. “They had not told the community that they were down to a skeleton crew at that point,” he said. 

Sandra McKee, a Community Board 6 member who had taken a public stance against the closure, noticed a decline in services too. “Once Mount Sinai took over the hospital, they gradually stopped providing some of the services that were really important in the neighborhood,” she said.

Beth Israel had a history of close calls over the years, with community advocates filing lawsuits and rallying to protect the hospital during earlier threats of shutting down or downsizing. But any plans to replace the facility remain unknown. A Mount Sinai spokesperson told the Midtown Gazette there weren’t any redevelopment proposals. 

Lois Uttley, who participated in the Health Equity Impact Assessment, is conducting another survey to find out how people are being affected by Beth Israel’s closure.

“I would like to know what the state Department of Health is doing to find out what’s been the impact on the people who live in that area,” said Uttley. “Where’s the follow up?”