New York City's public hospital system is turning over day-to-day operations of the lab at Coney Island Hospital to Northwell Health, after it failed recent state inspections, Crain's New York Business has learned.
Northwell last week had already begun the process of taking over the laboratory, a spokeswoman for NYC Health & Hospitals said.
The lab's problems came to light in the summer of 2013, when an 84-year-old patient died after receiving the wrong blood type in a transfusion. For months following the incident, Coney Island had to send blood samples off-site for testing at Kings County Hospital, but the lab continued to operate, according to H&H. While the hospital implemented a plan to improve its laboratory operations and protect patients, its efforts came up short.
“We're taking this pretty seriously,” the H&H spokeswoman said. “It's been some time, and we need to do something to get this fixed quickly and permanently.”
She said there have been no incidents of patient harm related to the lab since 2013, but the hospital has come under fire for other problems, including the alleged misdiagnosis of a Brooklyn woman who died from meningitis in January. Leadership at the hospital was overhauled in May.
