NYC NOW - May 14, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: May 14, 2024

Tuesday is the registration deadline for New Jersey's Democratic Senate primary. On Monday night in South Orange the three candidates debated several topics including the Israel-Hamas conflict. Meanwhile, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is pushing to rezone the Citi Field parking lot for a new casino, which Jackson Heights community groups say could generate a billion dollars in economic development. Plus, a new report from a New York State watchdog and a nonprofit law firm reveals that many city public hospital psychiatric patients lack access to fresh air during extended stays, an issue advocates claim violates patient rights. In response, NYC Health and Hospitals cites safety and security concerns as reasons for restricting outdoor access. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with reporter Caroline Lewis and former psychiatric patient Michael Kronenberg to learn more.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Tuesday, May 14th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. It's the last state of registered a vote for the Democratic Senate primary in New Jersey. Last night, the three candidates in South Orange answering questions on several topics, including the Israel-Hamas War, Representative Andy Kim said he'd support withholding some aid to Israel. In terms of offensive weapons, that what we see right now when it comes to the Rafa offensive, if that is going to move forward.

Others in the debate, Patricia Compost-Medina, said that she noted Kim voted in favor of aid to Israel last month. If we want peace, and why are you continuing to indiscriminately armed Israel to continue on a war against the people of Palestine. And Larry Hamm noted the aid bill cut off assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency after Israel accused staffers of terror lengths. Ham voiced

support for protesting college students seeking divestment from Israeli interests. And I just want to announce that I'm going to join the hunger strike of students at Princeton University. The primary election is June 4th. For a billionaire Metz owner Steve Cohen to build a

casino at City Field, he needs state lawmakers to rezone the parking lot around the stadium. A coalition of community groups in Jackson Heights has come to help Cohen saying the casino could bring a billion dollars worth of economic development to the area. Student Leah Scott is pressuring state senator Jessica Ramos to introduce legislation. This is a great project and Jessica, we are calling out to you. We love you, but we need your help and without you this cannot go through. This is WNYC. Stay close. There's more after the break. A new report by a state watchdog agency and a nonprofit law firm says that psychiatric patients at most New York City public hospitals have no access to the outdoors, even if they're staying at the hospital for months.

Advocates for patients say this violates patient rights, but NYC Health and Hospitals, which oversees the public hospital system, says there are also safety. issues to consider. We're talking about this today with WNYC Healthcare Reporter Caroline Lewis and Michael Kronenberg, an artist and former psychiatric patient at Bellevue Hospital. Caroline, would you tell us more about this investigation that led to this report and what it found? Sure. So the groups behind the report are the Mental Hygiene Legal Service, which is a state watchdog agency that was created to advocate for people with mental health issues and a nonprofit law firm they partnered with called disability rights advocates. And last year, these two groups spent eight months visiting the psychiatric units in public

hospitals across the city, speaking with patients and clinicians there and reviewing their policies around outdoor access. And they found that seven of the city's 11 public hospitals have no outdoor access at all for psychiatric patients. And that includes children and adolescents in some cases. You know, they spoke with some kids who said this was the longest they had ever gone without going outside and they really wanted to go have some fresh air. The median stay in one of these units is about two weeks,

but some people do end up staying there for a month or many months at a time, you know, in rare cases more than a year. And one of the things they point out in the report is that patients who had previously been incarcerated often said they had more access to the outdoors in prison. What are the laws around outdoor access for psychiatric patients? So in New York, the law requires prisoners to have. have regular outdoor access, but there's no similar law for psychiatric patients. That said, the authors of the report argue that patients have rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act,

the Constitution, and New York City's human rights law that entitle them to time outside, unless their doctor indicates otherwise. And many states do have laws requiring some level of outdoor access for psychiatric patients. And studies have also found that time outdoors can have a range of therapeutic benefits. But in New York, it's still very spotty. You know, some hospitals allow some outdoor access, but they can also take it away arbitrarily. So the investigators found, for instance, that there was no outdoor access at Bellevue when they visited last year, even though the hospital had had access to their roof for psychiatric patients for about 20 years before that. I spoke to city officials who said Bellevue's roof had been closed for renovations for a few

years and it's supposed to open again this fall, but that's not necessarily the case for all hospitals. Michael, you received psychiatric care at Bellevue in 2014, some 10 years ago. Would you tell us why you were hospitalized there and what the environment was like? Yeah, I was hospitalized due to suicidal ideation from a bad reaction to an antidepressant. And I was in there for about a month. And eventually you would earn yourself roof access. once you were evaluated and considered to be not a high-risk person, it was enormously therapeutic because I don't know if you've ever been in a hospital environment of that kind, but it's very similar to being in a submarine.

So it was a huge relief to be able to access the roof at some point. I really felt I was getting better. Would you describe what that roof access was like? Yeah, it was all pretty much fenced off. They had a very high fence around, and they had attendance that were keeping an eye on people, and they made every effort to make sure the people that were accessing the roof were safe. So it was hugely helpful. You don't know how much you miss the outside environment until you're not allowed to access it.

What's it like for people who have not been in Bellevue or other psychiatric units? What's it like for patients who are there? Well, it's a little bit like being in, stuck in a motel six that's been suicide proof. So it is a very hermetically sealed environment. Everything is monitored. You're constantly under observation. And they make every effort. to make sure that you can't harm yourself from the safety proofing of the bathroom equipment

to whether or not you have a blanket on your bed. It really is a highly controlled environment. Caroline, we know Bellevue plans to restore some outdoor access. What about the other hospitals flagged in this report? So the city's overall response was that there's no man-thorough. to provide outdoor access and that in some hospitals it's difficult because of the layout. You know, maybe they don't have a secure area like Bellevue does. You know, even though the report says some hospitals used to allow patients walks around the

block, for instance, and, you know, have discontinued that. But the city said any time that, you know, outdoors in an unsecured space could present safety concerns for patients, staff, and the public. I spoke to Dr. Lloyd-Setterer, a former mental health commissioner under Mayor Bloomberg, who said it all basically comes down to liability. If that person leaves and goes out on the street right around outside of Bellevue, and they hit somebody, or they throw themselves in front of a car, the consequences of that fall on the doctor and the hospital. So ultimately, to bring patients outside, hospitals also have to have enough staff to escort

them. And I know under staffing and behavioral health care has been a major issue for the city in recent years. So, you know, I think that's potentially another factor. I've been speaking with WNYC healthcare reporter Caroline Lewis and Michael Cronenberg, an artist and former psychiatric patient at Bellevue Hospital. Caroline, Michael, thank you for joining us today. Absolutely. Thanks. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you this evening.