The new city fire department’s order aimed at reducing the increase in response times for the 911 has sparked a major backlash as it claims patients and hospitals are putting safety at risk rather than lifesavers.
FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker imposed a rule on March 12 that required patients to be transported to the nearest hospital, rather than where they are associated with or preferring to go to a doctor, whether or not the crew of the EMS ambulance will bring all patients to life.
Previous orders only required ambulance crews to reach the nearest hospital during a severe or life-threatening medical emergency.
The choice of hospitals is supported by computers.
In rare cases, Tele-Fdny’s appeal to a doctor could overturn a computer-aid decision.
Dr. Bret Rudy, vice president and hospital operations director for Nyu Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, said the new policy is too strict and undermines patient safety and care.
He said, for example, a patient with a broken hip joint was recently sent to the emergency department of a hospital where there was no orthopedic surgeon to perform the surgery. Nyu Langone’s team went to another hospital to transport patients to Langone for surgery.
“This policy will not produce good results. It will produce bad results,” Rudy warned the post.
“It puts more patients at risk.”
The new order also led to conflicts between patients and ambulance crews.
Eli Gottlieb, 84, said he suffered from kidney failure and his doctor, who was affiliated with Mount Sinai Brooklyn, told him to call 911 to take him to the facility for an ambulance.
Gottlieb said he was sitting in the ambulance for 30 minutes when he hugged the crew.
Gottlieb refused to go there and noted that the hospital that treats him, Mount Sinai Brooklyn, is not too far from his home.
The ambulance crew called FDNY-Teledoctor to deny the option of dispatching a computer and allowed the ambulance crew to send him to Mount Sinai Brooklyn. Gottlieb said the ordeal wasted precious time.
When asked how he would explain his closest in-hospital first policy, Gottlieb replied, “Silly – in words.”
A Bensonhurst woman in Brooklyn, called 911, transports her grandmother, who had blood on a stool, to Nurangen-Brooklyn Hospital in Sunset Park.
The woman who requested anonymity said her grandmother was Chinese and preferred to send her grandma to the hospital along with more Chinese-speaking staff.
However, the ambulance paramedics and EMT said they had to take their grandma to Coney Island Hospital.
The family ultimately refused medical assistance and drove their grandmother to Langone Brooklyn.
Kenneth Laske, CEO of the New York Hospital Association, said the new ambulance policy “created many surprises” in the hospital industry. He said negotiations are underway to see if tweaks can be made to the order.
However, FDNY Commissioner Tucker defended the policy during a post-interview, as was the case with the paramedics of the 911 ambulance crew and the union leader representing the EMT.
Tucker said some hospital staff are not satisfied that patients are not being piloted by the FDNY 911 system to the hospital.
“It’s a business conflict. I’m in a life-saving business,” Tucker said.
“I don’t pilot patients. I take patients mostly to the local hospital. We’re not Uber or Lyft business to take the people they want to go.”
He said that in most cases, transporting patients to the nearest hospital is “the right thing” and that the ambulance crew will be able to respond quickly to the next 911 call.
The average ambulance response time to life-threatening emergencies jumped over 34 seconds, from 8 minutes and 14 seconds in 2024 to 8 minutes and 48 seconds in the first quarter of 2025, from July 1st to November. Mayor’s Management Report January.
FDNY has been discussing with hospital staff about possible policy tweaks, but Tucker has not foreseen any dramatic changes.
“It’s working,” he said. “Response time is reduced.”
Patients who are not facing life-threatening circumstances can refuse medical assistance and receive private auto service and other transport, Tucker noted.
Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507, supported the new 911 directive at the local 2507 representing FDNY EMS paramedics and EMT, repeated many points Tucker created.
He said some patients wanted to avoid the city’s public hospitals.
“People think it’s a taxi service to take us where we want to go. We’ll take you to a local hospital and get treatment,” Bahtsrai said.
