A woman who escaped Nazi Germany and rebuilt her life in New York bequeathed her entire fortune of $15 million to NYU Medical Center.

The estate of Charlotte Fleck, who died in 2005 at age 84, recently donated the unrestricted gift to NYU School of Medicine. The school has not decided how it will use the funds.

Mrs. Fleck was born in Nuremberg, Germany. During World War II, she fled to the United States, leaving behind her parents and sister, who died in concentration camps. She settled in Rego Park, Queens, and for years ran a successful business importing prints with her husband, Henry. The couple had no children, and Henry died in 1984 after suffering a stroke.

Ironically, Mrs. Fleck’s connection to NYU was cursory, according to a longtime friend, Ellen Adler. She was treated there once. “She used to say to me that I was very rich because I have two daughters and grandchildren,” Mrs. Adler said.

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DESPITE RECALLS, UNSAFE TOYS SOLD IN NEW YORK

Stores in New York are selling toys with unsafe levels of lead, investigators from the state Consumer Protection Board have found.

In a sweep of 2,800 stores statewide, 620 recalled toys were found on shelves, Governor Spitzer said yesterday. In addition to finding the recalled toys, investigators identified three toys with unsafe levels of lead, including an Army Force car set, Sprite Tractor Trailer toys, and Wrestle Mania action figures.

Yesterday, Mr. Spitzer urged the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue recalls for the three toys. Criticizing the federal government for failing to adequately inform the public about toy safety issues, he also called on the state CPB to draft legislation to improve industry standards in New York.

An estimated 5,000 children in New York are diagnosed with lead poisoning each year.

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PRESIDENT OF BROOKLYN HOSPITAL CENTER TO STEP DOWN

The president and chief executive officer of the Brooklyn Hospital Center, Samuel Lehrfeld, is stepping down after five years at the helm.

Mr. Lehrfeld was appointed in 2003, after working for the city’s public hospital system for 34 years.

In a statement, the chairman of the hospital’s board of trustees, Jonathan Weld, praised Mr. Lehrfeld for steering the community hospital out of bankruptcy this past summer.

The 464-bed hospital, situated in Fort Greene, is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System. It was not impacted by last year’s Berger Commission.

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ADVERTISEMENTS LIKEN SUFFERING FROM MENTAL ILLNESS TO BEING HELD HOSTAGE

A new advertising campaign that compares suffering from a psychiatric disorder to being held hostage aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness.

Spearheaded by the New York University Child Study Center, the campaign is focused on children and adolescents with disorders such as autism and depression. The advertisements are featured on 11 billboards this month, and they will also appear on 200 kiosks citywide through March. “We have your daughter. We are forcing her to throw up after every meal she eats. It’s only going to get worse… Bulimia,” one advertisement reads. The advertisement concludes with a tagline, “Don’t let a psychiatric disorder take your child.”

The campaign was designed pro bono. Outdoor advertising space was also donated.

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REPORT: SPITZER HEALTH CARE PLAN COSTLIER THAN PROJECTED

Governor Spitzer’s plan to expand health care could be “far more costly” than projected, according to a new report.

The report, to be released today by the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for New York State Policy, focuses on Mr. Spitzer’s plan to expand New York’s Medicaid-funded State Child Health Insurance Program to children in families with incomes up to $82,000.

Such an expansion could offer coverage to an additional 710,000 children at a cost of $400 million each year. That is nearly ten times the projected cost, the report’s author, Tarren Bragdon, said.

Mr. Bragdon said the plan would place an added financial burden on private insurers, as well, if employers drop private health insurance in favor of Medicaid.

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THREE HONORED FOR EFFORTS TO REDUCE HOSPITAL INFECTIONS

The organizers of a collaboration among hospitals to reduce infections will be honored tomorrow by the greater New York chapter of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology.

The annual Infection Control Champion award will be presented to the Greater New York Hospital Association’s vice president of quality and patient safety, Terri Straub; the United Hospital Fund’s senior quality improvement analyst, Hillary Jalon, and the director of the UHF’s quality strategies initiative, Rachel Block. The awards recognize the work behind a 47-hospital effort to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections. Participating hospitals have collectively reduced such infections by more than 70% in the past three years, according to GNYHA. The group could not provide specific infection rates at participating hospitals.