Tag Archives: NYSDOH

Five Years After Iraq War’s Official End, a New York Community Is Still Healing

NEW YORK, NY, 2017-Jan-14 — /EPR HEALTHCARE NEWS/ — As the Iraq War’s official end in December 2011 marks its fifth anniversary, many questions remain on its fallouts. New York’s French-American community is one of them, as it remembers its blacklisting when France opted out of attacking Iraq.

Choosing diplomatic pressure rather than “shock and awe” ignited fury for many in New York. The call for anti-French boycotts resonated in tabloids as pictures of New Yorkers spilling wines in gutters vied with accusations of an ally’s betrayal and cowardice. Information can be found by searching for “New York’s anti-French boycotts and Iraq,” and “Freedom fries.”

How effective were the boycotts? “Very much so, even devastating,” says French consulate’s official physician and mental health coordinator at the time, Gérard Sunnen, MD, “the French-American community of New York was stunned by their virulence and persistence. Why, many wondered, did they materialize only in New York, in striking contrast to the rest of the country?”

“Targeted were all manner of French-American businesses, from Air France to bakeries, as rosters of marked companies circulated widely. Earliest felled were restaurants, whose sales plummeted by as much as half. Like dominoes, they closed their doors, dismissing their workers. Called by many the “consulate’s darkest hour,” it went on for interminable months, years, and still resonates today.”

“As layoffs mounted,” Dr. Sunnen added, “so did their mental health consequences, from all manner of stress reactions to self-destructive depressions. And workers suddenly out of work could not find employment because no one would take them. The consulate’s social services department work load soared to levels never attained before.”

Faced with this onslaught, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) was repeatedly contacted to lend the community its medical and mental health assistance. In addition, New York State and city top officials were insistently asked to add their voice to call off the boycotts. All appeals remained unanswered and, for reasons of non-assistance and abandonment of responsibility, this matter was eventually reported and filed in New York and Federal courts.

Dr. Sunnen, who also cites his experience as a Vietnam-era U.S. veteran, concludes, “history needs constant reckoning, otherwise it can remain a fable. These events are now brought to light so that long-term allies can better understand and appreciate the meaning of their special relationship.”

References:

Gérard Sunnen, MD, www.triroc.com/sunnen
Supreme Court, State of New York, No. 102194/2012
U.S. District Court, Southern District of NY 12 Civ. 3417
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 13-465cv
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) 1:13-cv-1242
New York State Division of Human Rights (NYSDHR) No. 10181422
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) No. DCA96MA070

Contact-Details: Gerard Sunnen, MD
gsunnen@aol.com
www.triroc.com/sunnen

Via EPR Network
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New York’s Health Agency (NYSDOH) Cited in Iraq War’s Blowback

New York, NY, 2016-Dec-31 — /EPR HEALTHCARE NEWS/ — As the Iraq War’s official end on December 18, 2011 marks its fifth anniversary, many questions remain on its fallouts. New York’s French-American community is one of them, as it remembers its blacklisting when France opted out of attacking Iraq.

Choosing diplomatic pressure rather than “shock and awe” ignited fury for many in New York. The call for anti-French boycotts resonated in tabloids as pictures of New Yorkers spilling wines in gutters vied with accusations of an ally’s betrayal and cowardice. Information can be found by googling “New York’s French boycotts and Iraq,” and “Freedom fries.”

How effective were the boycotts? “Very much so, even devastating,” says French consulate’s official physician and mental health coordinator at the time, Gérard Sunnen, MD, “the French-American community of New York was stunned by their virulence. Why, many wondered, did they materialize only in New York, in striking contrast to the rest of the country?”

“Targeted were all manner of French-American businesses, from Air France to bakeries, as rosters of marked companies circulated widely. Earliest felled were restaurants, whose sales plummeted by as much as half. Like dominoes, they closed their doors, dismissing their workers. Called by many the “consulate’s darkest hour,” it went on for weeks, interminable months, and still resonates today.”

“As layoffs mounted,” Dr. Sunnen added, “so did their mental health consequences, from all manner of stress reactions to self-destructive depressions. And workers suddenly out of work could not find employment because no one would take them. The consulate’s social services department work load soared to levels never attained before.”

Faced with this onslaught, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) was repeatedly contacted to lend the community its medical and mental health assistance. In addition, New York state and city top officials were insistently asked to add their voice to call off the boycotts. All appeals remained unanswered and, for reasons of non-assistance and abandonment of responsibility, this matter was eventually reported and filed in New York and Federal courts.

Dr. Sunnen, who also cites his experience as a Vietnam-era U.S. veteran, concludes, “history needs constant reckoning, otherwise it can remain a fable. These events are now brought to light so that long-term allies can better understand the meaning of their relationship.”

References:

Gérard Sunnen, MD: www.triroc.com/sunnen
Supreme Court, State of New York, No. 102194/2012
U.S. District Court, Southern District of NY 12 Civ. 3417
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 13-465cv
U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) 1:13-cv-1242
New York State Division of Human Rights (NYSDHR) No. 10181422
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) No. DCA96MA070

Contact-Details: Gerard Sunnen, MD

Via EPR Network
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Unconstitutional Retaliation by Health Agency (NYSDOH) Cost Taxpayers $25 Million

The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) agreed to pay the owners of the Beechwood Nursing Home, located in Rochester, New York, $25 Million dollars to settle litigation in which a federal jury had already determined that NYSDOH officials, in a context of malfeasant comportment, had illegally revoked the operating license of the facility in 1999 in retaliation against its owners, resulting in Beechwood’s closure. The jury was scheduled to decide how much to award in damages when the parties reached a settlement.

The NYSDOH, known for disregarding Fourteenth Amendment rights (such as the right to have witnesses for one’s defense) in its actions against the state’s health professionals, has been challenged to conform to proper judicial practices, most notably via bills introduced by the New York State Legislature. All bills were vetoed by Governor George E. Pataki in 2004. According to Dr. Gérard Sunnen, a New York psychiatrist with long experience caring for patients in city hospitals and nursing homes, “the closure of the Home undoubtedly tore apart the social fabric and the connective support sustaining its tenants and patients, likely resulting in serious stress reactions, with all attendant consequences, physical and psychological.”

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle filed this report on the unconstitutional retaliation settlement. According to its August 22, 2012 article, the presentation of provocative e-mails, written by NYSDOH officials in the wake of Beechwood’s closure, was a key point in the case. Jurors in the case “pointed to the e-mails as the proof they needed of the state’s malice.” Although Beechwood’s owners sued multiple NYSDOH officials at the outset of the litigation in 2002, five were eventually found liable for the illegal revocation of the operating license: current Health Department officials Susan Baker and Cynthia Francis, and former officials Laura Leeds, Sanford Rubin, and Sharon Carlo. These individuals will not be personally liable for the $25 Million settlement.

New York State taxpayers, however, are the ones to shoulder the burden of the full award.

Via EPR Network
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New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Cited for Non-Assistance to a New York Community in 9/11 Crisis

Charges of non-assistance to a New York community, post 9/11, in a context of bias and discrimination, were filed with the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), and the New York State Division of Human Rights (NYSDHR).

According to the Verified Complaints, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) ignored repeated requests to assist in the medical and mental health care of French-American residents of New York, and of French tourists trapped by the 9/11 cataclysm.

As official coordinator for the French consular 9/11 crisis task force, Gérard Sunnen, MD, a U.S. veteran and dual national, reported that many individuals were severely distraught and maximally stressed by the 9/11 catastrophe and needed acute and chronic support services. He pointed out that French president Jacques Chirac was the first president of a foreign nation to come to New York after 9/11, offering his nation’s condolences and assistance. After his visit, he promptly dispatched French senator Monique Cerisier-ben Guiga to New York to oversee consular humanitarian actions.

“The prejudicial actions of the NYSDOH then reached new heights in the era offreedom fries” as part of a pattern and in a spirit of retribution for France’s non-participation in the Iraq conflict. Curiously, nowhere did it ever reach the intensity of New York,” reports Dr. Sunnen, “please recall the well-publicized incidents of wine bottles vindictively smashed in the streets, the eggs thrown at the façade of the Consulate of France, and the inflammatory headlines in the New York tabloids during those times. Because of coordinated boycotts, many French-owned businesses failed in New York, creating widespread mental health calamities.”

“Consequences of NYSDOH’s usage of its powers traveled far beyond New York,” said Dr. Sunnen, adding, “We were working with our Egyptian colleagues on two clinical studies, under the auspices of the University of Cairo and the Egyptian Ministry of Health. Both studies aimed at major public health issues in the Middle East and in the U.S., one regarding hepatitis C in Egypt, where the hepatitis C prevalence is by far the highest in the world, and the other on diabetic skin ulcers, a major cause of lower leg amputations worldwide. “

“Due to NYSDOH’s interference, the research contracts fell through and the studies were abandoned.” Information on the impedance to these international medical research initiatives can be found on the Internet. Legislative attempts designed to curb NYSDOH’s oft-reported undemocratic practices were all vetoed by Governor George E. Pataki in 2004.

Dr. Sunnen concluded, “In countering today’s tendency for international polarizations, friends and allies need to solidify their ties and cooperative efforts, and there may be nowhere better to start than with actively nurturing medical fellowship and goodwill.”

Via EPR Network
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Wrongful Convictions Of Physicians By Department Of Health (NYSDOH) Linked To Patient Mortality

The proliferation of wrongful convictions in New York State prompted the NYS Bar Association to create a Blue Ribbon task force to study its systemic, procedural and statutory causes, and to propose solutions. Indeed, a report by the Innocence Project found New York State to be the national leader, outpacing all other states in its rate of wrongful convictions. The Blue Ribbon findings, embodied in a document entitled “ Final Report of the New York State Bar Association’s Task Force on Wrongful Convictions” was unanimously endorsed by the Association’s House of Delegates on April 4.

The findings of the Task Force provide a disturbing commentary on flagrant errors by the New York State judicial system, leading to convictions of innocent individuals. In over 50% of cases, the failures of government practices – such as misconduct by prosecutors – were to blame for the wrongful convictions.

Wrongful convictions do not solely implicate the New York State criminal justice system. They are reportedly rife in the legal practices of the NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH), known for ignoring due process and abusing power in its disciplinary actions against physicians. Several bills aiming to redress these inequities were all vetoed. Reported among many of these due process violations is the denying of witnesses for phy sicians’ defense, the use of tainted judges, and the coaching of plaintiffs by prosecutors to lie – indeed, “winning” cases is vital for their career advancement. Especially targeted in these malicious prosecutions are physicians practicing complementary medicine. One physician who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution remarked, “Convicting doctors is a cinch: just don’t allow them any witnesses; then the Department is free to make up whatever it wants.”

The tragedy of wrongful convictions in matters of health care affects far more than physicians. The plight of patients suddenly obliged to forgo the continuity of their medical care by the forcible removal of their long term physicians via the challenging of their license is illustrated in press and Internet releases entitled, “Patient Mortality Linked to Judicial Errors.” Noted are certain fragile patients who, “vulnerable, sick, alone, frightened and suddenly deprived of their main lifeline (their physician), became acutely demoralized, refused referrals to other doctors or failed to bond with them, eventually giving up their will to live and neglecting their medical needs.” One physician reported the untimely deaths of 7 patients, including one from suicide, the rapid decline of 8 Alzheimer’s and the relapses of 12 psychiatric patients leading to their serial hospitalizations.”

In response, petitions have now been forwarded to agencies concerned with patient20welfare, calling for independent impact studies on state-ordered patient abandonment. Agencies contacted include the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. The petition has also been sent to Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, NYSDOH.

This landmark study, of major interest to medical, psychiatric and medico-legal communities and the public at large, would aim to show that abruptly severing medical and psychiatric services by state agencies has serious and sometimes fatal consequences for patients – especially patients who are disadvantaged, infirm, chronically ill or psychiatrically disabled. It would also suggest remedial action. Indeed, if state agencies assume the power of terminating the basic care to patients provided for by their physicians, they presumably also should accept the responsibility for adequately supporting said patients through crisis, by providing them with life-saving continuity of care.

Via EPR Network
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