NYU emergency room accused of providing special treatment to Schumer, VIPs: report

New York University’s emergency department has been accused of providing special treatment to a variety of VIPs, including Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), according to a report by The New York Times. 

The Times reported on Friday that a designated room in NYU’s Langone Health medical center, Room 20, is set aside for patients whose lives are at risk and those who are VIPs. 

Schumer’s wife had a fever and experienced shortness of breath in the spring of this year and the two of them went to NYU’s emergency room.

Sicker patients received care in the hallway, but Schumer and his wife were led into Room 20 where they quickly received COVID-19 tests, which came back negative, according to the Times. 

The Times reported that Kenneth Langone, a major donor to NYU’s hospital system and the namesake of the center, had stomach pain in September 2021. Medical workers told the Times that Room 20 was left empty for him, and he was quickly brought into the room and treated for a bacterial infection upon arriving. 

NYU Langone denied to the Times that VIPs receive priority treatment, but 33 workers told the outlet that they had seen those types of patients receive that treatment in Room 20, which is one of the largest private spaces in the emergency department. 

The Times spoke to 45 medical workers and reviewed internal hospital records and other confidential documents to report that NYU’s emergency room has given priority care to donors, trustees, politicians, celebrities and friends and family for years. 

Medical charts on computers sometimes note whether a patient has donated to the hospital or how they are connected to an executive, “frustrated” doctors shared with the Times through screenshots. 

Doctors told the Times that they felt pressured to put VIPs first and saw them jumping ahead of sicker patients to receive CT scans and MRIs. 

Lisa Greiner, a spokeswoman for the medical center, told the Times that Langone was treated in Room 20 and that it was “absolutely appropriate” based on the symptoms he was experiencing. She said no patient has ever received treatment in an isolated room “at the expense of any other patient’s care.” 

Greiner said the room serves multiple purposes, including privacy. 

Langone told the Times that he has never asked for special treatment at the hospital, and the hospital has never offered it. 

Angelo Roefaro, a spokesman for Schumer, told the Times that the protocol for his security detail is “to have the senator stay, whenever possible, in a secure location.” 

The Times reported that 11 doctors said they have left the emergency department partly because of their objections to prioritizing VIPs.