Speaker Menin reads statement from family of 32-year-old pediatrician who died

Ultimately, I want to ensure that we keep our focus today on the people who really matter, the New Yorkers who became ill and the New Yorkers whose lives were tragically cut short.

Eleven New Yorkers have died in connection with this outbreak.

We will soon hear from family members who lost their loved ones.

To this horrible disease.

But before then, I want to read a statement on behalf of a family who lost their loved one.

They wanted this statement read.

They felt very strongly about this.

This hearing should be about her, and it should be about all 11 New Yorkers who are no longer with us today.

They deserve answers.

Their families deserve answers, and they deserve for us as policymakers to determine what should have been done differently and make the changes necessary to prevent another family from experiencing this kind of loss.

I will now read the statement.

My sister, a 32-year-old medical doctor with many decades of her life still ahead of her, was the fourth victim of the 2026 Upper East Side Legionnaires Disease outbreak.

Her career as a pediatrician, dedicating her life to helping children and young people, was only just beginning.

My sister was enormously kind, funny, ambitious, and exceptionally intelligent.

My whole life, I looked up to her and wanted to be like her.

She cared deeply for those around her, her wife, her two younger sisters, her parents, her friends, and loved ones.

loved ones, as well as a patient she treated who described her as incredibly compassionate.

My sister had so much life left to live.

Instead, she became critically ill and was admitted to the ICU with Legionnaire's disease on the 4th of July.

Because of her autoimmune condition, my sister was particularly vigilant about protecting her health.

She took all necessary precautions and followed all health guidance.

However, she was not prepared for an invisible threat in her own home, the one place where she was meant to be safe.

My sister developed symptoms two to three days before she was admitted to the hospital.

By this time, a cluster of Legionnaires cases had already been identified, but not yet widely communicated to the local residents, including those who were known to be at greater risk.

Had she been better informed and known about the risk and early symptoms, she could have been evaluated sooner and started on life-saving antibiotics earlier.

We will never know whether the outcome would have been different.

My sister was admitted to the ICU, experienced an emergency intubation, and fought for her life for over two weeks.

She endured an unimaginable amount of invasive medical treatments and attempts to save her life.

Despite all these efforts, my sister died on the 19th of July 2026, surrounded by her family, her wife, and loved ones.

We remain devastated.

There are no adequate words to describe our loss.

To lose her so young in a completely preventable manner leaves us grappling with many difficult questions about the multiple failures that allowed our

dearest sister, daughter, wife, friend, and doctor, to die so unexpectedly and traumatically.

My sister always believed in helping others and preventing suffering wherever she could.

She would not want any other person to die in vain.

We cannot bring my sister back, despite this being our deepest wish.

We can hope to prevent her death from becoming just another number or being treated as an unavoidable tragedy.

Her life mattered, and her death matters too.

We hope it leads to honest accountability in policy and practice changes so that no other family has to experience what we are enduring.

I will end with what I told my sister in the hospital while she died.

Thank you for being my sister.

We will love you forever.

Thank you.

I will now turn to Chair Shulman for her opening statement.