Stony Brook University suing patients at higher rate than other health systems

Long Island Morning Edition

A limo and a ride-share driver allegedly supplying cocaine and ecstasy to clientele on the south fork were charged in an alleged million-dollar East End Drug Task Force bust in East Hampton Aug. 1, town and county court records show. Grant Parpan reports in NEWSDAY that Michael Khodorkovskiy, of Brooklyn, and Alexandr Dyatchin, of Hallandale, Florida, were each charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance and remanded to the Suffolk County jail at an arraignment in East Hampton Town last Friday.

Suffolk prosecutors, in a civil forfeiture filing this past Wednesday, said they intend to seek a grand jury indictment for the two men, who they allege generated nearly $1.2 million in drug sales, including more than $88,000 in transactions with two undercover officers during a yearlong investigation.

The undercover officers, working with the district attorney-led task force, made nearly two dozen purchases. The buys mostly consisted of cocaine, but on several occasions included quantities of ecstasy, and were made between July 14, 2023, and June 25, according to the civil forfeiture filing.

Khodorkovskiy, who described himself as the "main guy" and referred to Dyatchin as his employee, told one of the undercover officers during a January meeting in his Mercedes-Benz that he began selling cocaine while working as a private driver in East Hampton, prosecutors said.

The transactions with the undercover officers began small, mostly between $360 to $600 over the first month, eventually growing to $10,000 purchases of as much as 150 grams of cocaine on two occasions between May and June, court records show.

Suffolk County District attorney investigator Det. Paul Rauseo said, "Khodorkovskiy and Dyatchin have generated criminal proceeds in the amount of approximately $1,186,295.00," Rauseo estimated in the criminal forfeiture filing against Khodorkovskiy, Dyatchin and limo and ride-share businesses they each operate.

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Locals are still buzzing about last Friday evening’s visit to Bridgehampton by former POTUS Donald Trump and the traffic congestion it created. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the South Fork is no stranger to sitting dignitaries, and to the hurdles that protecting them while they are on the road demands. Presidents, vice presidents and presidential candidates have been making fundraising swings through the Hamptons’ well-heeled social circles nearly every summer for decades.

Their Secret Service guards and motorcades have snaked through local hamlets and negotiated neighborhood roads largely without causing too many headaches or inconveniences, other than very localized delays or road closures.

But former President Donald Trump’s visit to a Bridgehampton fundraiser last Friday evening, August 2, coming just a few weeks after a would-be assassin’s bullet grazed the former president’s ear, was a very different story.

Heightened caution by a U.S. Secret Service still reeling from the nearly catastrophic failure of its duty to protect a presidential candidate, combined with a visit that overlapped with the region’s already crushing workday traffic, led to a traffic situation that was mind-blowing even to South Fork commuters seasoned in the snail’s pace travel conditions on a daily basis.

Some reported trips home from work, to dinner plans or even to gather children from daycare, stretching into hourslong ordeals that didn’t end until nearly midnight.

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The invasive spotted lanternflies that have the potential to destroy North Fork wineries’ grape crops has spared wine country — for now — but officials remain on high alert and urge the public to be too. Timothy Bolger in Dans’ Papers reports that officials from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Department of Environmental Conservation and Cornell University’s Integrated Pest Management issued a reminder that whenever the public spots the colorful-yet-destructive insect, people should kill the bugs immediately.

“We’re asking for the public to continue to be vigilant and check vehicles and equipment before traveling, use traps to control (spotted lanternflies) at home, report any sightings and smash (the bugs) when you see them,” AGM Commissioner Richard A. Ball said. “Early detection and continued survey is the key to slowing the spread of this harmful pest and protecting against damage to our trees and crops.”

The spotted lanternfly — striking for its red wings with black spots — is known to suck the sap out of 70 different species of plants and excrete honeydew where it lands. One of its favorites are grapevines, which is problematic for New York State, which is the third-largest grape producer in the United States and boasts a $300 million wine industry statewide, with dozens of wineries on the East End. Apples, hops and maple trees can also be negatively affected.

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Riverhead’s town and school district will share a combined cost of about $417,000 to post an armed school resource officer in each the district’s two secondary schools during the 2024-25 academic year, according to a town official. John Hildebrand reports in NEWSDAY that the plan to station special police officers at Riverhead High School and Riverhead Middle School, starting this September, was confirmed late last month by school officials. At the time, those officials said costs would be divided, without specifying dollar figures.

More recently, the Town of Riverhead’s financial administrator, Jeanette DiPaola, who is handling fiscal calculations, provided figures at Newsday’s request.

According to DiPaola, the school district in 2024-25 will pay $104,000, or half the cost of one officer. The town will pay the remaining $313,000. DiPaola added that costs represented a combination of employee salaries and benefits such as health insurance, with benefits amounting to about 75% of salaries.

For the 2025-26 school year, the district will pay 50% of total costs of approximately $418,000, DiPaola said. The town will pay an equal amount.

Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard, yesterday, underlined the issue of safety. "I think every student deserves to go to school and feel safe when they're at school," he said.

Resource officers, or SROs as they are known, are typically regular police authorized to carry sidearms.

Riverhead Town Councilman Ken Rothwell, who supports the SRO plan, said the town and school district were “equally committed to providing the utmost safety for the children in our schools.”

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Stony Brook University Hospital has been suing patients over medical debt — including sending summonses to those with tumors and other complex health conditions — at a higher rate than other health care systems statewide, records show. Sarina Trangle reports in NEWSDAY that NYS attorneys have filed more than 950 cases against people believed to owe Stony Brook hospital money in the first half of 2024, according to Suffolk Supreme Court records.

Last year, the Stony Brook system accounted for 52% of all medical debt cases brought by the state's more than 200 hospitals combined, according to one social service group's estimate. The state's budget guidelines, according to Stony Brook, require the hospital to refer certain delinquent accounts to the New York attorney general’s office.

Suing is so widespread that hospital staff are accustomed to having patients frantically present court papers to them, said Lynne Piazza, a social worker who also is facing a medical debt lawsuit from Stony Brook. "They’d run to your office . . . crying, worrying about immigration status, worrying about are they going to be able to keep their home," said Piazza, who started as an intern at Stony Brook in 2013 and has taken time off in recent years to deal with her own health issues.

Other regional hospitals have stopped suing patients over unpaid bills in recent years.

The suits are another stressor for patients recovering from surgeries and radiation treatment.

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Long Island’s Nassau County was listed as the safest in America this week — in rankings that found the New York metropolitan area had 10 of the nation’s top 25 safest counties. Steve Janoski and Carl Campanile report in THE NY POST that County Executive Bruce Blakeman hailed Nassau’s victory in the US News & World Report study as a credit to the area’s law-and-order values.

“Our ranking as the safest county in the country is a tribute to our police officers, district attorney, and other law enforcement professionals who put their lives on the line each and every day to protect the residents of Nassau County,” he said yesterday.

The list scored counties on a 100-point scale that’s tied to their performance in key safety areas that went beyond crime rates, including health care and public safety capacity, the magazine said.

It also takes into account things like emergency services and crash fatality rates.

Suffolk County was named 22nd on the top 25 safest counties in the nation list.

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At the next Sag Harbor Board of Education meeting, set for Monday, August 19 at 6:30 p.m., Superintendent of Schools Jeff Nichols will give a report on how the district fared while using the Yondr magnetic locking cellphone pouches for students during the last school year. He will speak to the pros and the cons of the system, which effectively banned cellphone use for students during the school day, and how students and faculty reacted, and whether the district will continue to use the pouches this coming year and into the foreseeable future. Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that Sag Harbor became the first school district in Suffolk County to ban cellphone use in schools last year when it paid Yondr roughly $10,900 as part of a one-year contract to provide the cellphone pouches for every middle and high school student and help implement the system. The Sag Harbor School district announced at that time that if it chose to renew the contract for the 2024/25 school year, it would cost around $7,400 annually, with the caveat that the renewal pricing was subject to change. Yondr’s patented cellphone pouch locks magnetically when closed, and can only be unlocked by a small, handheld circular device similar to the mechanism used to remove security tags from clothing sold in retail stores. Students place their phones in the pouches at the start of the school day, a school staff member locks the pouch, and then they cannot use the phones again until they report to a staff member to have the pouch unlocked at dismissal. Companies like Yondr have popped up in recent years to meet a demand for restricting access to cellphones at concerts, private parties and other events, as well as in schools and workplaces. There has been a flurry of media coverage about the dangers and negative impacts of cellphone use in schools and its detrimental effects on students and their abilities to learn and socialize.