Government takeover of Brooklyn hospital faces legal setback amid Orthodox backlash
Letitia James’ office now sends the planned merger of Maimonides Medical Center with New York City’s public Health + Hospitals system to court, for a review that could blow past an April 1 deadline
Maimonides Medical Center in the Borough Park neighborhood in Brooklyn. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh and Hannah FeuerMarch 23, 2026
A proposed takeover of Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn by New York City’s public hospital system has hit a new obstacle, after the state Attorney General’s office rejected a request to fast-track the merger deal amid fierce opposition in the Orthodox Jewish community it serves.
The AG’s office’s charities bureau told Maimonides that it cannot proceed through administrative approval and must instead seek judicial sign-off ahead of a scheduled April 1 transfer. That process for nonprofit property transfers requires a court filing in Brooklyn, public notice and a hearing before a judge — a timeline that could delay the merger or, opponents hope, derail the transaction altogether.
The setback comes as the hospital and state and local authorities face a pair of lawsuits seeking to stop the merger. As part of one of those cases, the state filed the city Health and Hospitals system’s 500-page merger application with a state court on Friday, detailing specifics about the projected timeline, funding and more.
A coalition of trustees of the hospital who disagreed with the board’s majority decision and Orthodox patient advocacy groups, along with major Hasidic congregations, filed the suits against Maimonides Medical Center, the New York State Department of Health, and New York City Health and Hospitals to block the deal — first announced in December — to merge the struggling institution with the city’s public hospital system. Many Hasidic patients rely on Maimonides, an independent nonprofit in Borough Park, as their local hospital.
The plaintiffs argue that turning control over to the city system would undermine the hospital’s Jewish character, stray from its nonprofit mission and risk a further decline in care. Among Maimonides’ accommodations are Shabbat elevators that stop on every floor, some Yiddish-speaking staff and an on-site synagogue in the main lobby that hosts daily afternoon prayers.
New York City Health and Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz, who is Jewish, promised to retain religious accommodations at Maimonides under the merger, noting in court documents that the agreement requires preservation of existing religious and cultural practices at the hospital for at least 30 years. Still, the reassurances have done little to assuage the community’s activists seeking to block the merger.
Martin Bienstock, who represents the community institutions and individuals named as plaintiffs, welcomed the attorney general’s decision as confirmation of their objections. “The transfer of a multi-billion-dollar hospital to the City of New York demands full judicial scrutiny,” Bienstock said in a statement. “The transaction cannot simply be rubber-stamped.”
The Forward has reached out to representatives of Maimonides and NYC Health and Hospitals for comment.
An Albany court is expected to consider, at a hearing scheduled for this week, a request for a preliminary injunction to block the transaction from closing without a judicial and public review.
