Two New York lawmakers are lending support to a plan that would allow the New York-Presbyterian Hospital system to absorb a hospital currently slated for closure.

In a letter dated May 29, Reps. Joseph Crowley, a Democrat of Queens and the Bronx, and Charles Rangel, a Democrat of Manhattan and Queens, urged Governor Spitzer to overturn a decision to close New York Westchester Square Medical Center, and to “allow New York-Presbyterian Hospital to take over operations of NYWSMC.”

The Westchester Square Medical Center, a 205-bed facility serving the Bronx and parts of Westchester, was recommended for closure last year by the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, a group appointed by Governor Pataki to overhaul the state’s health care system. Overall, the commission recommended that nine hospitals statewide be closed, including five in New York City.

In the letter, Messrs. Crowley and Rangel indicated that under the proposed arrangement, the condemned hospital would become a division of New York-Presbyterian and “would operate in a manner similar to the Allen Pavilion,” an Inwood hospital that is one of NewYork-Presbyterian’s five major facilities.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for Westchester Square said the hospital is planning to present a detailed proposal to the state’s Department of Health, offering compelling reasons for it to function as a satellite to the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System, the network of hospitals affiliated with New York-Presbyterian.

In November, New York-Presbyterian announced it would submit a proposal to the Health Department to establish a facility at the Bronx hospital site. Westchester Square has been an affiliate of New York-Presbyterian since 1997, and the proposal would strengthen ties between the two institutions, hospital officials indicated.

Meanwhile, the legal battle over Westchester Square’s fate is moving forward.

In January, attorneys from the law firm Chadbourne & Parke, along with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, filed a lawsuit on behalf of patients of the hospital, arguing that Mr. Pataki’s commission and its recommendations were unconstitutional. A Bronx Supreme Court judge issued a temporary restraining order to keep the hospital open, although the ruling was later overturned. On June 1, lawyers for the plaintiffs, including a Parkchester resident, Mary McKinney, and the Mechler Hall Senior Center, presented appellate arguments in the case.

As of yesterday, a spokesman for Chadbourne & Parke said the lawsuit was still being pursued.

“If New York-Presbyterian were to reach some arrangement with Westchester Square Medical Center, we would reassess things at that point,” the spokesman, Andrew Blum, said in a statement.