The night before the state took control of Nassau University Medical Center, its top executives billed a nearly $1,500 dinner at a Manhattan steakhouse to the debt-ridden hospital, a new report revealed.
The May 29 outing at The Lobster Club in Midtown came just hours before Gov. Kathy Hochul was set to appoint new leadership to the financially struggling hospital, which is over $1 billion in debt, according to reimbursement records obtained by Newsday.Seven executives including former CEO Meg Ryan attended the dinner, which the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority — the agency responsible for monitoring and overseeing the county’s spending — called “an absolute outrage.”
“On their last day, they went to the city and celebrated with a lobster dinner and other activities and spent hospital money,” NIFA Chairman Richard Kessel, who was appointed by Hochul in 2023, told Newsday.
“This is a hospital with deep financial challenges — that’s got very low cash — and these guys were supposedly working for the betterment of the hospital and the taxpayers?”…