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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Dr. Ahmed Amer, ER Physician at Kings County Hospital
3:59:58
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Dr. Ahmed Amer, an ER physician at Kings County Hospital, provides testimony highlighting the challenges faced by NYC Health + Hospitals, focusing on patient access issues and the need for fair contracts to improve staffing. He shares a story about a diabetic patient who couldn't get a timely appointment, emphasizing the downstream effects of healthcare decisions on emergency services.
- Describes a patient with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) who couldn't get a primary care appointment until March 2025
- Stresses the importance of increasing healthcare worker resources to improve patient access and care
- Calls for a fair contract to hire and retain doctors, criticizing H+H for hiring a "union busting" law firm for negotiations
Ahmed Amer
3:59:58
Hi.
3:59:59
Good afternoon.
4:00:00
I'm a.
4:00:01
I'm a ER physician at Kings County Hospital.
4:00:05
I'm just gonna keep it brief and just add on to some of what my colleagues were saying by just kinda telling you a brief story.
4:00:14
Last month, I saw a lady in her sixties that came in with very high blood sugar, not feeling well, vomiting.
4:00:21
She was diabetic.
4:00:22
Turns out she had a very bad diabetic emergency called DKA.
4:00:25
She won't end up getting admitted to the hospital on IV fluids, insulin infusion, spent a couple of days.
4:00:31
Luckily, fortunately, she made it out.
4:00:35
The story behind this patient that I saw can highlight everything that you need to know about what's going on in our system right now because we in the ER are considered what's called downstream of all the health care decisions that are taken before the patient gets to our doors.
4:00:50
So this lady was from Brooklyn.
4:00:53
She's from Flatbush, where my hospital is located.
4:00:56
She had just moved back from Philly in October to live closer to her daughter so that she can meet her basic needs.
4:01:03
She tried to get an appointment with the primary care doctors at Kings County.
4:01:06
She called the hotline.
4:01:08
They gave her an appointment in March of 2025.
4:01:12
So she waited, and after a month, she called again.
4:01:16
And they told her, we're sorry.
4:01:17
The earliest we could do is March 2025.
4:01:19
If you have an emergency, call 911 or go to the ER.
4:01:23
So she did the sensible thing.
4:01:25
She tried to manage that on her own, and then eventually, she couldn't, so she wound up in the hospital.
4:01:31
Now, see, our patients wanna see their doctors, and their doctors wanna see them.
4:01:37
The only way to do that is by increasing the resource, and the most valuable resource in the health care system are the health care workers that work in the system.
4:01:46
It's not the machines.
4:01:47
It's not the buildings.
4:01:49
And the only way to make sure that the patients have access to the care that they need in their hospital
Mitch Katz
4:01:55
Thank you.
4:01:55
Times expired.
Ahmed Amer
4:01:56
That we give them the resource.
4:01:58
And in summary, what I would say is if you want to help us address these issues, what we need is a fair contract.
4:02:05
A fair contract that allows us to hire and retain the doctors that we need to staff this whole system properly.
4:02:11
There is no amount of goodwill or sacrifice that can make sure that these patients get the care that they deserve.
4:02:16
And in our negotiations with H and H, they went out and they hired one of the most notoriously union busting law firms out there to come and negotiate with us.
4:02:28
So that already shows you that we are not on the same page.
4:02:32
Our mission is to take care of the patients and the
Mitch Katz
4:02:34
children time has expired.
Ahmed Amer
4:02:36
We can.
4:02:36
Thank you.