In her second major advertisement of the campaign, Christine C. Quinn yields the spotlight to Levia Preito, a Long Island woman whose son, Manny Lanza, died at 24 years old from a brain condition after a Manhattan hospital delayed surgery when he had no insurance. Ms. Preito narrates her emotional story, telling of how Ms. Quinn, as City Council speaker, took steps to help prevent similar situations.
Hospitals cannot turn away patients simply because they lack insurance, and Mr. Lanza’s death prompted investigations into why his family had apparently been misinformed by doctors at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. When Ms. Quinn became Council speaker in 2006, she introduced a bill to require hospitals to tell patients about financial aid programs and government assistance that can help pay for care.
The Council bill never passed; instead, the State Legislature, including Ms. Quinn’s close ally, Senator Thomas K. Duane, took up the cause and passed a similar measure in that year’s budget. Ms. Quinn, joined by other council members, later conducted a follow-up investigation to ensure compliance at city hospitals, including the posting of signs about financial assistance in languages other than English.
Ms. Quinn is intent on emphasizing her record as Council speaker, an attempt at contrast with rivals who she argues are all talk, no walk. (Ms. Quinn is, of course, selective about what she highlights, omitting more controversial parts of her tenure, like overturning the city’s term limits law.) The testimony of Ms. Preito, who tears up toward the end as she recalls Ms. Quinn’s support, is an emotionally affecting way for the Quinn campaign to convey a message of effectiveness without requiring its candidate to preen about her accomplishments. The focus on health care is also notable, since opponents have attacked Ms. Quinn over the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan.
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