NYC NOW - December 28, 2023 : Midday News

Episode Date: December 28, 2023

Listen to Imminent Danger here:Episode 1: Wrongful DeathEpisode 2: License RevokedEpisode 3: The GatekeepersEpisode 4: LoopholesEpisode 5: Remorse

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. I'm Jared Marcel. Like many of you, we're kind of on vacation this week, but we all know the news doesn't stop. Here's your local news from Lance Lucky. The city is making big changes to how it handles the 10,000 tons of trash residents and businesses produce every day. John Ketchum, an urban planning expert at the Manhattan Institute, calls it a major achievement for Mayor Adams. He cites a push to require businesses and residents to put trash into containers rather than leaving bags on sidewalks. I do think that containerization will prove to be the

administration's hallmark achievement in terms of sanitation-related policy. By the end of next year, all businesses and people who live in small apartment buildings must use trash containers. Curbside compost collection is also set for all five boroughs by the end of next year. New York will give out up to 1,500 new cannabis licenses in the coming weeks for growers, retailers, wholesalers, and other types of businesses. It's the first time the state's recreational cannabis market will be open to a wide range of applicants. The first dispensary licenses were reserved for people with past marijuana convictions and their family members. Large multi-state cannabis companies that already have medical licenses in New York have also been approved

to enter the recreational market. For that privilege, they had to pay a hefty fee of $20 million. And at this hour, Good Riddins Day is happening in Times Square. It's the unofficial holiday in New York City where you celebrate leaving behind the bad memories you don't want to take with you into 2024. People will be able to write down their bad memories and a magician will make them disappear. The holiday began in 2007 and is inspired by a Latin American tradition, which involves stuffing dolls with objects representing bad memories before setting them on fire on New Year's Day. 54 right now, just a slight chance of a sprinkle this afternoon. The shower's likely this evening.

Stick around. There's more after the break. This fall, we launched WNYC's first five-part investigative podcast series called Eminent Danger, one doctor in the Trail of Injured Women. It's about the troubling medical career of an OBGYN named Thomas J. Byrne, and what it tells us about how doctors are vetted in the United States. For those who haven't heard the podcast yet, here's a little bit of a little bit of a little bit. backstory. Burn was stripped of his medical license in New York in the early 90s after authorities determined that five babies were injured under his care. Three of them died. But Byrne got his license

back two decades later. Upon the conclusion of the series last month, my colleague Michael Hale talked with WNYC's investigative editor Christopher Worth. Christopher started the conversation telling us what caused New York to revoke Burns' medical license. Just a recap, up to this point we've laid out what caused New York to revoke this doctor's medical license. And, you know, that he had been named as a defendant in 14 malpractice lawsuits after he left New York and went to practice in New Mexico and Oklahoma. But what that left us with was one really important question, which was why, given all of that, did New York decide to allow Byrne to practice in the state again? We know, for example, that he started working at Harlem Hospital after his license was restored in 2014. And he was named in

two malpractice suits for incidents there. So we requested Burns' full applications for license restoration. The State Department of Education, which it handles medical licensing, told us no. It's not part of the public record. But we did manage to get a 20-page summary of that application. And your reporting found that summary said Byrne had gone on to practice in other states, quote, without incident after he left New York, right? Yeah. And it's, you know, it's difficult to understand that piece of this document that was, you know, just to be clear, it was generated by the licensing board. Because as we know, there were multiple medical malpractice lawsuits filed against Byrne in those states. Now, you might say, well, doctors get sued all the time. That's not an indicator of, of a, quote, incident, so to speak.

But we were able to find other indicators that might raise concerns among a licensing board, including that Byrne's hospital privileges had been temporarily suspended while he worked in Oklahoma and the fact that Oklahoma had initially denied his application for a medical license, which is on his file with the Federation of State Medical Board. The series tells the stories of some of the families in New York who received care from Byrne before he lost his medical license back in 1991. How have they reacted to the fact that Byrne was able to regain that license here? Yeah, our reporter on this series, her name is Karen Chkirji,

she spoke with several of the parents of those children, who you mentioned at the start of our conversation. As you can probably imagine, the reaction is outrage. These parents, the fact that he lost his license felt like a form of justice for them. And to give that license back, obviously, creates a lot of complicated feelings for them. You brought a clip of one of those parents.

Set this up forth. This is a man named John Henry's. Byrne delivered his son Matthew. It was 1989. The state's investigation into these births found that in Matthew's case, Byrne had used a vacuum extractor excessively. A vacuum extractor is a device that can be placed on a baby's head to assist in a delivery.

But the state determined that Byrne had used it, quote, without indication. They also found he had used it excessively in his case. Matthew suffered serious brain damage among other injuries. So in this clip, John is describing his son's third birthday. You'll also hear Karen, our reporter, in this. The day of his birthday, December 21st, we had a cake and presents and locked into his room. and a nurse holding him

and the pager was going off and she said that he was in distress breathing so on December 22 we made the decision you know if Matthew you know

heart stop don't do nothing just let him go but he keep him on the ventilator, and then if he does pass, you know, then don't do nothing. And then he passed away on December 23rd, a 92. Two days after his birthday. Yep. Two days before Christmas.

So I didn't want to go up. My dad told me that I needed to go up. I needed to hold my son. So I went up there, and I'm glad I did. because I sat there and rock Matthew for about an hour. John told me that after Matthew died, his relationship with his wife at the time really suffered. And she asked me why I'd keep going to the cemetery.

And, you know, I couldn't even tell her why. You know, I just felt like I was abandoning him up there, that he was there all alone, you know, and just crazy. I mean, just the thoughts. I mean, after my divorce, I just, I went down the wrong road. It took me to some places that I didn't want to be.

So now 30 years later, sure, let's give you your license back. When are they going to say enough's enough? Or don't they ever say that? It's wrong. Totally wrong. I understand that you and Karen have reached out to burn numerous times, but have yet to get a response from him. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. He's refused to answer any of our questions up to this point.

Christopher remind us, where can we get the series? All of these episodes are in our NYC Now podcast feed. You can binge the whole series now. They're all out. If you don't already subscribe, please go and do that. We're on, you know, the apps where you get all the podcasts. And you can also find it on our new site, Gothamist. Christopher, a terrific podcast and series. Thank you. Thanks so much, Michael. That's WNYC investigative editor, Christopher Worth, talking with my colleague Michael Hill. And if you missed imminent danger, you can find the links to every episode in the description of this episode on the NYC Now podcast feed. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC.

All this week, we'll have one story a day and the latest headlines. I'm Jared Marcel. We'll be back tomorrow. Thank you.