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With strike looming, nurses press safety demands after deadly NYPD shooting at hospital
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Jan 10, 2026
Modified Jan 10, 2026
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José A. Alvarado Jr.
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Jan 10, 2026
Modified Jan 10, 2026
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New York City nurses are doubling down on their calls for increased security in private hospitals after police fatally shot a man who allegedly threatened staff and patients with a sharp object at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in Park Slope on Thursday.
The man, 62-year-old Michael Lynch, a former NYPD officer, barricaded himself in a room with an elderly patient and a security employee, according to the NYPD. Police officers called to the scene fatally shot Lynch after he ignored their commands to drop the sharp object, NYPD Assistant Chief Charles Minch said.
Nurses with the New York State Nurses Association are demanding greater protection against workplace violence at hospitals across the city as part of ongoing negotiations over new contracts. They are asking hospitals to make precautions such as panic buttons and metal detectors more ubiquitous, union officials said.
Hagans said in a statement Friday she was relieved no patients or hospital staff at Brooklyn Methodist were injured Thursday.
“But even when an event doesn’t leave visible scars, it can deeply shake our sense of safety and leave us fearful,” Hagans said. “No one should ever have their hospital turn into a crime scene.”
The Nurses Association has already reached tentative agreements in recent days with several hospitals it says have committed to greater safety measures. Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island has committed to add a Behavioral Health Rapid Response Team to respond to violent incidents, according to the union.
But nurses say hospital safety is still one of several sticking points — along with clashes over pay, health benefits and staffing — that are driving them to strike Monday at multiple hospitals, including facilities run by NewYork-Presbyterian.
New York-Presbyterian directed requests for comment on Thursday’s incident to the NYPD and declined to say whether it would respond with new security measures.
But ahead of that incident, New York-Presbyterian said a panic alarm system is already being implemented in various hospital units.
Nurses are also planning strikes at three Mount Sinai locations and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
Nurses at Mount Sinai Hospital say they were rattled after a man with a gun was apprehended by security at the medical center in November. That man was later shot by police outside the hospital and was treated by Mount Sinai staff before he died, CBS reported at the time.
“We have been fighting for patient and nurse safety for months at our hospital,” Goodness Iheanachor, a nurse at Mount Sinai Hospital, said at a New York State Nurses Association rally in Manhattan on Friday. “Mount Sinai Hospital has responded with dismissal.”
According to the union, three nurses were disciplined by Mount Sinai after speaking out about the incident to coworkers and the press. The union filed unfair labor practice charges against Mount Sinai over their discipline with the National Labor Relations Board.
"Patient safety is our top priority,” Lucia Lee, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai Health System, said in a statement on that incident. “In this situation, these three nurses were disciplined after their own co-workers complained about them actively interfering with other nurses providing patient care in the emergency department.”
Lee said that hospital management will continue to “bargain in good faith” over a new contract but they could not risk these nurses distracting from patient care.
Montefiore also put out a memo detailing measures the hospital is already taking to expand its safeguards against hospital violence.
Montefiore management sent a memo to nurses on Dec. 31 noting that some Montefiore staff already have badges with buttons they can press to send an alert to hospital security and those will soon be expanded across emergency departments and inpatient psychiatry units.
Armed police officers are also stationed in hospital lobbies and emergency departments, according to the memo. And Montefiore said the hospital system is working to expand weapons screening systems, which already operate at some hospital entrances.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that nurses at multiple NewYork-Presbyterian facilities are planning to strike.
Tagged
2026 NYC Nurses Strike
Health and Science
economy
new york city
public safety
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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