Long Beach Medical Center

By Steven Weitz

Re: Long Beach Medical Center: 

Let's not ignore the comments of the New York State Health Commissioner, which appears in today's Newsday:

State Health Commissioner Dr. Nirav Shah was blunt in his assessment of the hospital's past performance: "Doug Melzer and the leadership of Long Beach Medical Center have failed to meet their obligations to address the dire financial and operational issues that for too long have plagued this hospital," Shah said, referring to the hospital's chief executive.

The Board of Directors of Long Beach Medical Center need to respond to this blunt criticism. They have a fiduciary responsibility to the HOSPITAL, and not to the current administration. 

Let's bring in a new team (the best and the brightest) to run the hospital, perhaps with state over sight and reopen as quickly as possible. We need a hospital - NOW!