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Metro

Patient’s body found in NYC health clinic stairwell — 5 days after she died

By
Emily Crane
Published Aug. 24, 2023
Updated Aug. 24, 2023, 12:58 p.m. ET

The body of a female patient who died after falling down a set of stairs at a Bronx family health clinic went unnoticed for five whole days until someone noticed a “foul odor” in the building, cops said.

Sary Mao, 57, was found lying face-down in an emergency stairwell at the Montefiore Family Health Center at 1 Fordham Plaza on Monday after an appointment, News12 reported.

“Dead and utterly decomposed to a point where she’s unrecognizable,” Augustine Vazquez-Rhem, the husband of Mao’s niece, told the outlet.

Mao, a longtime patient at the health center, had died the previous Wednesday after going to the clinic for an appointment, an initial police probe found.

The Cambodian refugee’s official cause of death was hypertensive cardiovascular disease, according to the city’s medical examiner.

It wasn’t clear if she died immediately after tumbling down the stairs.

Sary Mao
Sary Mao, 57, was found lying face-down in an emergency stairwell at the Montefiore Family Health Center in the Bronx on Monday — five days after her death.

“The medical report stated she had a heart attack, the issue for me is that if regular patrols would have been done, that they would have found her body sooner,” Vazquez-Rhem said.  

Mao, who spoke Khmer, had been living at the Beacon of Hope group home in the Bronx prior to her death, according to the relative.

An employee at the health center told Politico that the stairwell where Mao’s body was discovered was marked with an “Emergency Exit” sign in English — despite the clinic serving many patients with limited English proficiency.

“We have lots of questions about how her death happened,” Mekong NYC, an advocacy group for the Bronx’s Southeast Asian community, said in a statement.

Montefiore Hospital
Mao, who was a longtime patient at the health center, had died the previous Wednesday after going there for an appointment. RICHARD HARBUS

“We demand answers and transparency from Montefiore, and will hold the Hospital accountable so that our communities are safe — and not in further danger — when placed in Montefiore’s care.”

The health center, which receives enhanced federal funding to serve underprivileged communities, wouldn’t comment on Mao’s death due to “HIPAA and patient privacy rules.”

Mao was among those who joined a campaign last year to try to prevent Montefiore from consolidating the family health center and two other clinics in the Bronx, the advocacy group said.

Ever since the consolidation plan was put in place last fall, employees said, the health center’s waiting rooms are overcrowded and wait times are considerably longer.

Multiple employees told Politico that medical emergencies that unfold outside of exam rooms — like the one involving Mao — were likely to go unnoticed given the overload.