Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Demarest (See Profile) on Tuesday reversed her 2011 decision allowing the struggling Long Island College Hospital's assets to be transferred to SUNY Downstate Medical Center, saying she was "increasingly concerned" about "Downstate's apparent lack of stewardship over those assets in the advancement of LICH's charitable purpose."
Demarest said in the sua sponte order that she had approved the transaction based on SUNY's representation that it would continue to operate LICH as a hospital. However, SUNY had begun to wind down its operations, saying it could not afford to keep the 155-year-old hospital afloat. SUNY has projected that the hospital will run $41 million deficit this fiscal year and $60 million deficit next year.
