Tag Archives: NYSDOH

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

New York, NY, 2016-Dec-31 — /REAL TIME PRESS RELEASE/ — 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

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.

Contact details:

Gérard Sunnen, MD
200 East 33 Street
New York, NY 10016
gsunnen@aol.com
http://www.triroc.com/sunnen