Suicide Causes Oxygen Leak at NYC Hospital

Man landed on pressurized line
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 9, 2016 8:43 AM CST
Suicide Causes Oxygen Leak at NYC Hospital
The exterior of Mount Sinai Medical Center is seen in New York.    (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

A man who jumped to his death from a building in Manhattan early Friday almost took some patients at neighboring Mount Sinai West Hospital with him. Police say the 31-year-old man, who was pronounced dead at the scene, landed on a pressurized line that carries oxygen to the hospital, causing it to rupture, the New York Daily News reports. NBC reports that hazmat crews responded to the leak and after an oxygen vendor arrived, it was possible to close it within around half an hour.

The emergency department was evacuated and arriving patients were diverted elsewhere after the incident at around 2am, although sources tell the Wall Street Journal that only the hospital's backup oxygen supply was affected. "There was no adverse impact to other hospital operations or patient care, and the hospital's oxygen supply system remains fully functional," Mount Sinai said in a statement. A police escort accompanied another oxygen tank as a vendor rushed it in from New Jersey, the Daily News reports. (More suicide stories.)

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