The massive nurses strike hitting three major New York City hospital systems now has a body count, union officials claim.
At least one death at Mount Sinai — is attributable to reduced care because of the strike, according to Darla Joiner, a union official who heads Mount Sinai’s bargaining unit, who heard this information from individuals speaking on the picket line.
Katie Duke, a retired nurse practitioner at Mount Sinai who was picketing Saturday for the NYSNA, told The Post she regularly hears from other staffers at the hospital that the strike has turned deadly, including the case of the ICU patient who was on a machine that helps circulate blood flow and breathing.
“It is the highest level of life support for somebody who’s waiting on, like, a lung transplant,” Duke said. “So, the patient . . . wasn’t restrained and sedated properly” and pulled the tube out of their neck.
“There are things happening inside, because this hospital is settling for staff who are not qualified to take care of patients, because they refuse to negotiate with the nurses and give them their contract,” she said.
A hospital official strongly denied the union claims of a strike-related death. “This is completely false, defamatory, and we are pursuing legal action,” said spokesperson Lucia L. Lee, who refused to comment on the specific case, citing federal privacy laws. City Health Department officials did not immediately return a message.
Nurses at Mount Sinai, Montefiore Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian hit the picket lines Monday.
“Our PCAs [patient care associates] are saying a lot more code blues are being called,” Joiner said.
The startling revelation came as the strike by nearly 15,000 NYC nurses — which has the support of Mayor Zohran Mamdani — reached its sixth day.
“Code blue means somebody’s dead. It has a medical emergency. So, like, you have to start CPR and an emergency team comes. It’s normally doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners, anesthesia, and respiratory. It’s literally just to try to resuscitate someone,” Joiner said.
“We’re hearing that more alerts are being called,” she added. “Our patients are sicker. And more people are dying. I mean, I’m not gonna lie to you about that.”
The union official also claimed the temporary nurses being used by the three hospitals to fill the void are overwhelmed and overworked, adding, “there are some really unsafe things happening.”
The strike is the largest nurses’ walkout in city history and the longest in recent memory, far surpassing the 7,000 workers who picketed for three days in 2023.
But while hospital executives were caught off guard three years ago by the strike — which ended with favorable contracts for the nurses — they’ve taken an aggressive stance this go-round, after the New York State Nurses Association pushed for staffing and pay increases as well as to maintain health benefits.
Read the full article here
