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NY State Health Department Moves To Close Espada's Soundview Health Clinic
By
John Del Signore
Published May 18, 2012
Modified May 18, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 18, 2012
Modified May 18, 2012
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The taxpayer-funded Bronx health clinic robbed of hundreds of thousands of dollars by ex-State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. is hanging by a thread. Soundview has provided low-cost health care to thousands of South Bronx residents for years, but since Espada and his son Pedro G. have been on trial, it's drastically cut services and even stopped paying the malpractice insurance for its physicians. Fortunately Soundview still has enough cash to pay the Espadas' legal fees! But now the state Department of Health has moved in to shut it down, and it may cease operating completely.
Now that Pedro and Pedro G. are no longer operating the clinic, another son of Espada, Alejandro Espada, is running the circus, and it looks like the show may be just about over. Rachel Fasciani, spokeswoman for Soundview, tells the Post, "They are trying to shut us down. They’re requesting we turn over our... operating certificate."
Soundview has also not been receiving any money from Medicaid in the wake of the scandal, which is the main source of its funding. It's easy to feel schadenfreude when watching Espada get taken down, but his conviction is cold comfort for the victims of Espada's crimes, many of them poor former constituents who rely on Soundview for help. Soundview client James Prunty tells the Post, "This man here is messing up so many lives. I don’t understand how a man of his stature would do something like that. How dumb can you be?"
A spokesperson at the DOH tells us, "The Soundview patients are in limbo and we notified other health care providers in the area so they're aware that they'll most likely be seeing patients coming to them from Soundview. Our goal is to make sure people get the care they need."
Tagged
Albany
corruption
pedro espada
soundview
the bronx
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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