By SUSAN EDELMAN
May 11, 2008
A Harlem hospital with strong ties to Gov. Paterson has amassed a growing mountain of debt and malpractice lawsuits - as New York taxpayers hold the bag for millions of dollars in delinquent state loans to the beleaguered facility, The Post has learned.
North General Hospital has fallen $13.4 million behind required repayments for $138 million in bonds issued by the state Dormitory Authority to keep it afloat. The agency will advance the hospital another $451,000 tomorrow - on top of $29 million in other loans, officials said.
The private nonprofit, on Madison Avenue near 122nd Street, also owes more than $5 million to union funds for employee benefits.
Meanwhile, a Bronx jury in March hit the hospital with a $16.8 million verdict for a woman who died after a botched gastric-bypass surgery. Another 18 malpractice suits - including several deaths and amputations - are pending, records show.
"The hospital has some severe financial challenges," said the Rev. Calvin Butts, pastor of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church and chairman of North General's board of directors.
The 30-year-old, 200-bed hospital is exploring "every possible solution" and hopes to avoid bankruptcy, Butts said.
As a Senate minority leader whose district included Harlem, Paterson directed $150,000 in state grants to North General in 2003. He also arranged a meeting between his wife, Michelle, who was employed by the hospital from 2002 to 2005, to lobby the Legislature, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Bruno provided two $500,000 grants.
The threat of bankruptcy was raised last month by a lawyer with Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, a firm hired by the hospital, when it persuaded Manhattan administrative Judge Jacqueline Silbermann to move all malpractice suits against the hospital before one judge.
Tort lawyer Peter Defilippis called the move highly unusual, saying the court normally assigns cases randomly so neither side can "judge-shop."
But North General spokeswoman Michelle Stent said Friday the lawyer acted "without the hospital's knowledge or consent" and has been yanked from the cases.
