Heart Attack? Don't Come Here - We're Closed

After serving their respective communities in Queens for over a collective 150 years, Mary Immaculate and St. John Hospitals will be shut down as of next week, victims of decades of mismanagement and a very hostile economic climate. All efforts for a government bailout or loan have been exhausted. As of last Saturday at midnight, the ER at St. John where I am doing my Internal Medicine rotation has been shut down. All is quiet on the western front. In fact, it is downright eery in the ER.

The hospital, which was full the whole time I have been there up to last week, and has a capacity of around 240 beds, is currently holding about 40 patients in the remaining two wings that are still operational. As soon as those patients are either discharged home or transferred to another facility, the padlocks will be placed securely on the doors and only auctioneers will be allowed inside to inventory and sell the stock.

I wonder what hospital beds sell for these days.

NOTE: The two pictures of the ER above, although from a slightly different angle, are of the same side of the ER. You can see beds were empty before we officially closed down. After our official shut down of the ER, you can see that the once organized and well-kept area is already in disarray. Very, very sad.