Karina Bistegui-Adler of NYLPI testifies on H&H and hospital protections

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair Encarnacion.

My name is Karina Bistegui-Adler.

I'm the director of the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

We, of course, support Intro 626, but I'm here to testify about Executive Order 13.

In brief, we support the recommendations that the mayor has adopted and applaud H&H for...

Voluntarily participating in the audit and adopting policies.

H&H is the largest public health system in the country, and I believe that what H&H does will help set the tone for every other hospital in the city, including private and voluntary hospitals,

many of which are located in immigrant communities and have been involved in incidents of ICE presence and violent enforcement.

Today we have a few recommendations.

First, as part of the reporting requirement, we ask that H&H track and report any medical clearance requests that ICE directs at treating providers when they are carrying for patients in ICE custody.

We've heard repeatedly that ICE brings people to H&H for medical clearance or demands written medical clearance after apprehending and injuring New Yorkers on the street and before transferring them to immigration detention centers.

We know from our extensive work documenting and litigating medical neglect in immigration detention centers that the continuity of care after discharge is not being honored.

If true, we fear that these letters can contribute to the continued neglect and inhumane detention of New Yorkers.

Careful tracking, reporting, and auditing of these requests could be the difference between detained New Yorkers returning to their community or languishing in immigration detention centers.

Second, we hope that the IRC will formally partner with immigrant patient advocacy organizations like Health Justice for New York behind us, NLP, as they consider policies, implementation, and ongoing reporting.

And lastly, we asked the committee pass a resolution to support state bill, Senate bill 10494, the Safe Access to Care Act.

The bill would require every hospital in New York, public or private, to adopt written protections right now.

Only H&H is stepping up to volunteer, but this bill would close the gap for everyone.

Thank you again for your time.

I look forward to continued collaboration to support the health and safety of New Yorkers.