PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Roberta Pikser, Member of the Public, on Support for NYC Health + Hospitals Doctors
3:16:08
ยท
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Roberta Pikser, a member of the public, testifies in support of doctors working at NYC Health + Hospitals, highlighting their struggles with working conditions, compensation, and staffing shortages. She emphasizes the importance of treating these doctors with respect and providing them with proper resources to ensure quality patient care.
- Pikser criticizes the lack of job security, benefits, and adequate compensation for H+H doctors
- She points out the severe understaffing issues, such as having only one specialist on call 24/7
- The testimony questions whether the city considers these doctors and the patients they serve as important, urging the council to address these issues
Roberta Pikser
3:16:08
My name is miss Pitzer, and I am here to support the doctors who work at the Health and Hospitals Corporation of the City of New York in their struggle to properly serve the people of the city and to be accorded the respect which they are due.
3:16:24
I'm here as a citizen of the City of New York and one who has, along with many other, received excellent and thoughtful care from these doctors.
3:16:34
That those who take care of us in our neediest moments should themselves be mistreated is appalling.
3:16:42
I'm writing oh, I'm here.
3:16:43
I'm sorry.
3:16:44
I wrote this.
3:16:45
I'm speaking also as a worker and the mistreatment which these doctors are being accorded is not permissible.
3:16:55
That they have neither job security nor benefits nor even sick days and are notably underpaid is ridiculous.
3:17:03
To employ 1 doctor where 4 are needed to have 1 and only 1 specialist on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a
Mitch Katz
3:17:12
week is
Roberta Pikser
3:17:12
with presumably no relief in sight is obscene.
3:17:15
And to pressure these doctors to work this way is to practically demand that they make errors.
3:17:23
So now I come to my point.
3:17:25
How can we ask these doctors to take care of us when we treat them with such disdain?
3:17:31
Or perhaps, this is what the Health and Hospitals Corporation and the city of New York are trying to say, that those who take care of us do not matter precisely because we citizens do not matter.
3:17:50
In conclusion, and this is simple, the problem seems to be money, but money can always be found for what is considered important.
3:18:01
Thus, the question is, are these doctors considered important to the city and to the people of the city?
3:18:09
Are the people of the city important enough so that the doctors who serve them will be properly treated?
3:18:17
I leave it to you, the council members who work for us, to answer that question.