I was sent this email yesterday. Condolences to all those lost. Horrific deaths... Sickening mike Bloomberg made an appearance because as usual he put greed before safety helping to push thru along with evil troll Scott Stringer Rudin luxury condos no Trauma Level 1 hospital where St Vincent's was.
For unexplained reasons, the Metro-North passengers injured today were dispersed amongst far-flung city hospitals, including Elmhurst Hospital Center, a Level I trauma center 13 miles away in Queens, even though St. Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital in Morningside Heights in Manhattan is less than 7 miles away.
Following the wave of hospital closings under the Berger Commission, the Medicaid Redesign Team, and Superstorm Sandy, the capacity of New York City hospitals to handle mass trauma events remains in question.
The following news report from Newsday indicates that some passengers have already been discharged after receiving emergency medical treatment, but many others remain hospitalized in critical condition. Because time is of the essence when treating trauma patients, it's not yet known why some passengers were transported over longer distances, unnecessarily extending the time until some passengers received trauma care.
As we mourn the passengers, who died today, and as we wish those injured a speedy recovery, let's hope that city and state health officials recommit to the need to maintain capacity in our city and state hospital system for emergencies and accidents, especially mass events like this derailment.
Tonight, our thoughts are with the Metro-North passengers and their friends and families. We owe it to each other to have a hospital system that maintains the necessary capacity and specialized medical staff to timely provide specialized Level I trauma care.
NTSB on scene to probe fatal Metro-North derailment
Originally published: December 1, 2013 8:32 AM
Updated: December 1, 2013 7:06 PM
Below except:
"Investigators are trying to determine what caused a Metro-North passenger train to jump off the rails on Sunday morning, killing four people, while on an area of track that New York's governor called "dangerous."
