FDNY orders ambulances to take patients to closest hospital, sparking backlash
The backstory
Previously, patients were able to direct emergency service workers to a hospital of their choice, provided it was within 10 minutes of the closest hospital available. The previous directive only required crews to take patients to the nearest hospital in severe or life-threatening medical emergencies.
The selection of the hospital is assisted by the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD).
As of March 12, EMS ambulance crews must take patients to the nearest hospital. Brooklyn's Gerritsen Beach Fire Department, which provides volunteer ambulance services for their community, posted on Facebook about the change.
"Even if you have a preferred hospital where your doctors are, that no longer matters unless a rare medical exception is approved. If you refuse, you'll have to sign a refusal form, and the ambulance will leave."
What they're saying
Some in the hospital industry have taken issue with the change.
Dr. Bret Rudy, executive vice president and chief of hospital operations of NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, told the New York Post, "The new policy is too rigid and undermines patient safety and care." He cited an example of a patient with a broken hip being sent to the emergency department of a hospital that was not equipped with an orthopedic surgeon.
NYU Langone's team traveled to the hospital to transfer the patient to Langone to perform the surgery.
The policy has "created a lot of consternation" in the hospital industry, said Kenneth Raske, CEO of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
There are also reports of confrontations between patients and ambulance crews regarding the updated policy, according to the New York Post.
"We're not the Uber business or Lyft business." FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker to the New York Post
A woman in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, who asked to remain anonymous, called 911 to transport her grandmother to NYU Langone-Brooklyn Hospital, which is in Sunset Park. The woman said her grandmother is Chinese and that she preferred to send her grandma to a hospital with more Chinese-speaking staff.
But the paramedic and EMT in the ambulance said they had to transport her grandmother to Coney Island Hospital instead. The family refused the ride and drove the grandmother to Langone-Brooklyn.
The other side
FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker defended the updated policy in an interview with the New York Post, stating some hospital officials are displeased that patients are not being taken to their hospitals.
"That's a business dispute. I'm in the business of saving lives," Tucker said. "I don't steer patients. I take them for the most part to the local hospital. We're not the Uber business or Lyft business to take people where they want to go."
The average ambulance response time to life-threatening emergencies rose to 8 minutes and 48 seconds in the first quarter of the 2025 fiscal year, according to Mayor Adam's January management report.
"It's working," Tucker said. "Response times are coming down."
The Source
This article uses information from the New York Post's reporting. A group representing NYU Langone also reached out directly to FOX 5 NY.
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