Medical residents at Montefiore protest understaffing, long hours and ‘divestment’ in care for Bronxites

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Medical residents at Montefiore rallied on June 10, 2024 for a contract offering better pay and staffing and more investment in patient care
Photo Emily Swanson

Medical residents at Montefiore Medical Center passionately rallied July 10 against chronic understaffing and “disinvestment” in Bronx patient care. 

The Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR) is the oldest and largest union of its kind in the United States, a local of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) representing over 34,000 resident physicians and fellows. 

At Montefiore, talks have been ongoing for almost a year for the union’s first contract in almost 40 years. At the rally, union members — including some on the bargaining committee — had strong words for management at Montefiore, including rally signs that called out its president and CEO: “Dr. [Philip] Ozuah, invest in care for the Bronx!” 

Montefiore is not the only Bronx hospital whose medical staff are protesting their work conditions. Members of Doctors Council SEIU held a June 14 rally at Jacobi Medical Center, which is part of the city’s Health + Hospitals (H+H) network, citing similar issues of physician burnout due to unsustainably long work hours and a decline in quality of service for patients.

“Montefiore is deeply engaged in our current conversations with the Committee of Interns and Residents and we are committed to creating an agreement that honors the hard work of our house officers in a manner that is sustainable going forward,” a spokesperson for Montefiore said in a statement following the rally.

Dr. Clara Bertozzi-Villa spoke about the need for a more diverse workforce at a contract rally at Montefiore on July 10, 2024Photo Emily Swanson

At the rally on Montefiore’s Moses Campus in the north Bronx, union members spoke of the need for high-quality patient care, especially in the Bronx.

“As doctors, if we made this screwed up healthcare system that leaves so many people behind, we have an obligation to fix it,” said John McCarthy, a first-year resident physician in social pediatrics — who accused Montefiore leadership of making the problem worse by “pursuing profits over patients.” 

The union wants a raise higher than the rate of inflation, plus benefits to help cover child care, housing and other needs. They also want to establish a patient care trust fund, which would cover essential equipment and community health programs. 

During the rally, union members said that management is not meeting their demands — and sometimes refusing to negotiate at all. 

Residents provide the majority of patient care, but are routinely working 80 hours per week and treating patients in hallways due to understaffing and crowding, they said. A strongly-worded press release before the rally said Montefiore’s medical residents are being “exploited” and are among the lowest-paid in the Bronx.  

Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, an ER nurse and former state nurses’ union president with four decades of experience, said Bronxites in the neighborhood used to have high praise for the hospital — but now, they complain to her about long waits and poor service. 

“I have to hide,” she said before calling on management to “bring Montefiore back to its former glory.” 

Clara Bertozzi-Villa, an OBGYN fellow at Montefiore and graduate of the hospital system’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said she has seen firsthand the disparities that contribute to poor maternal health outcomes for Black and brown women in the Bronx. Many are facing discrimination and difficulty in every aspect of their lives, including medicine. 

“The whole context of their life is really hard,” she told the Bronx Times.

In response, Montefiore needs a more diverse group of physicians who understand those considerations — but according to Bertozzi-Villa, management refused to consider the union’s proposal for stronger diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts. Leadership said they were already doing enough to recruit and retain doctors of color, she said. 

The union disagrees.

“We all know residents [of color] who have left programs” because they lacked support — which only increases over-reliance on those who stay, said Bertozzi-Villa.

Miledys Guzman, who grew up in Kingsbridge and the South Bronx and is now an internist at Montefiore, told the Bronx Times that doctors are now struggling alongside their patients to afford housing, childcare and other necessities. And given the current conditions and difficult negotiations, “I feel deeply disrespected,” she said.

Despite the challenges, Guzman said she loves her job and wants to remain at Montefiore, where she came for care as a child. However, “Montefiore has divested from its patients,” she said.

This story was updated on July 12, 2024 at 10:24 a.m. to remove a quotation from Guzman. 


Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes