Cash-Strapped Brooklyn Hospital Plans To Shutter Obstetrics Department

A cash-strapped hospital in Brooklyn Heights announced plans today to stop delivering babies as part of a reorganization plan designed to solve some of the hospital's financial woes.

Long Island College Hospital, where 2,800 babies were born last year, will shutter its obstetrics department pending approval from the state's Department of Health, hospital officials said. The hospital also plans to sell off some of its real estate holdings and is looking to reduce its number of beds by as much as 100 beds. Currently, the hospital is licensed for 500 beds, but it operates 350.

Officials from the hospital's parent company, Continuum Health Partners, said the Brooklyn medical center owes $170 million to creditors and made its decision in order to avoid bankruptcy.

"Our decision to take this step is not a happy one for us," Continuum's president and chief executive officer, Stanley Brezenoff, said at a news conference. "We are taking this approach because not to do so would leave LICH in even greater jeopardy and bring about far more adverse consequences."

Mr. Brezenoff said obstetrics and gynecology services account for $11 million of the hospital's total losses. Obstetrics accounts for $8.8 million in medical malpractice costs, out of $22 million overall.