NYC NOW - October 16, 2023: Evening Roundup

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

Thousands of residents in New Jersey are proclaiming solidarity with Israel and calling for an end to Hamas. Plus, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is again facing scrutiny for his nursing home policies early in the COVID-19vpandemic. And finally, WNYC’s Michael Hill and Christopher Werth discuss the new investigative podcast series “Imminent Danger: One Doctor and a Trail of Injured Women.”

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Jene Pierre. We're happy to do it and be here for them so they know that they're not alone and we stand together. We begin in New Jersey, where there has been a strong showing of solidarity for Israel. Dozens of synagogues and Jewish community groups took part in a demonstration near Livingston Sunday in one of the region's largest marches since the start. of the Israel Hamas War. Renee Glick is one of the organizers.

She says she was gratified to see the involvement of other groups, like Lutheran and Presbyterian churches and Chinese and Indian associations. The reason why we have so many other groups, interfaith groups, joining us because this isn't just an attack against Israel. It's an attack against humanity. There was a heavy police presence at the march, but there were no reports of arrests. It follows several pro-Palestinian demonstrations Friday in New York City.

where more than 60 people were arrested. Lawmakers in Congress are threatening to subpoena a former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, if he doesn't comply with their investigation into his COVID policies. WMYC's Caroline Lewis has the details. Members of a House subcommittee on the coronavirus are asking questions about Cuomo's nursing home policies

early in the pandemic and whether they adhered to federal guidelines. The committee is giving Cuomo until Tuesday to respond and is threatening legal action if he doesn't comply. It first requested the documents in May. Cuomo's spokesperson, Richard Azopardi, called the inquiry a farce. Previous investigations by the State Assembly, Attorney General, and Controller, found that the Cuomo administration underreported nursing home deaths during the pandemic. The Cuomo administration has denied the accusations.

Stay close. After the break, we'll discuss WMYC's new investigative podcast series, Imminent Danger. The second episode dropped over the weekend, so check it out if you haven't already. You won't regret it. In the early 90s, an OBGYN practicing in upstate New York was stripped of his medical license after the state investigated a series of bad outcomes involving his patients. That included three babies, who died shortly after delivery. But that doctor regained his medical license in New York years later.

It's the subject of our new investigative podcast series, Eminent Danger. One doctor and a trail of injured women. For more on the series and what to expect, my colleague Michael Hill talked with WMYC's investigative editor, Christopher Worth. Last week, we spoke about the first episode. For those who haven't heard this second one yet, what can we expect? Yeah, so in episode one, we learned that New York State had revoked this OBGYN's medical license in the early 90s. His name is Thomas J. Byrne. That was after, as you say, an investigation found him guilty of,

negligence, and competence in his treatment of patients, among a number of other charges, only to restore his medical license years later. And, you know, we hear that he was practicing at Harlem Hospital until fairly recently, where he has been named as a defendant in two malpractice lawsuits. Now, in episode two, we go back in time to uncover the circumstances around how this doctor lost his

license to practice. And we do that through the story of one patient who gave birth under this OBGYN's care. Now, that's a case that was included in New York's investigation into this doctor. What was the scope of that investigation? In 1990, the state health department began holding hearings into this OBGYN. According to public records available through the health department, the state eventually concluded 11 patients were harmed while under his care.

That included five expecting mothers and their newborn babies. three of those babies died shortly after birth. The other two suffered severe brain damage. And the state initially suspended his license. The health department labeled him to be, quote, an imminent danger to patients in order to do that. And then it eventually fully revoked his license in 1991. You have a clip from this week's episode, Seth or sub force? Yeah, so this is an excerpt that picks up on that patient's story that I mentioned.

Her name is Danita Henry. Her case, as we said, was part of the state's investigation. And what you'll hear is the reporter in this series, Karen Shikurgy, talking to the nurse who was assisting Dr. Byrne and treating Donita the night that she gave birth. The nurse's name is Michelle Durham. Okay, let's listen. Can you describe Dr. Byrne? I mean, I'm interested in what your impressions of him were. I would say compared to the many physicians I had worked with. I don't know how to say this. You know, he was kind of a cowboy. He would just be much more aggressive in the care of a patient. And I think it made a lot of people uncomfortable. Michelle also testified as a

witness in the investigation into Dr. Byrne. She refers to Donita as patient E because the state records anonymized patients to protect their privacy. So prior to, the case in question, he already sort of had an established reputation. I mean, because patient E, whose case I was involved in was not the first bad outcome. I mean, there had been many previous bad outcomes. Just after 10 p.m. that night that Danita was in the hospital, records show her temperature continued to climb to 104.4. An OBGYN who I asked to review this record told me that kind of temperature for a patient in labor is like a five-alarm fire, because it is a sign that an infection is most likely brewing and that the baby needs to be

delivered as soon as possible. Dr. Byrne initially ordered an emergency C-section, but 15 minutes after that, he started using a vacuum extractor to deliver the baby instead. He liked the vacuum extractor, and he used it a lot. I remember that distinctly. You know, when you are appropriately using a vacuum extractor, it's an assistance, and the baby should be easily delivered, and there shouldn't be trauma. What were you witnessing in that moment? I was witnessing way, way more traction and pull than should have ever been done. That was an excerpt from WNYC's new investigative podcast series, Eminent Danger. Christopher, this doctor was able to continue practicing.

What have you learned about how he was able to do that? That's really the crux of this whole series. Having a medical license revoked is obviously a serious blow to any doctor's career. a spokesperson for the state health department at the time said it would be, quote, very difficult for Byrne to regain it. What we learn in this episode is that Dr. Byrne took part in a program at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse that was designed to help doctors who'd gotten into some sort of trouble in their careers and help rehabilitate them. They would take part in a number of exercises, you know, mock visits with people who were pretending to be patients, for example. they would do psychological evaluations.

And what we can see in the records that we obtained, within roughly a year of losing his license, the head of this program had written a letter to the New York Health Department, recommending that Byrne be allowed to return to practice. It was around this same time that Byrne was able to obtain a medical license in another state, New Mexico, and then in 2014 is when he got his license back in New York. This is a five-part series, Christopher.

What's next as this story unfold? Yeah, what we do in later episodes is we take this one story about a single doctor and we use it as a way to examine the system that we have in place to vet doctors before they're given medical license and track doctors who might have issues that come up. Because I think the question that you're left with with a story like this is when I go to a hospital or I walk into any kind of health care setting, have those systems work to protect. me. That's WNYC's investigative editor, Christopher Worth, talking with my colleague Michael Hill. You can find imminent danger right here in the NYC Now podcast feed. New episodes will be released every Saturday morning for the next three weeks. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day. I'm Jenae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.