Aqueduct Cancels Racing Amid Jockey Protest After Accident
Jockeys “refused to ride in the last four races at Aqueduct race track [Saturday],
in protest of the medical attention — or lack of it — they say they
receive from Jamaica Hospital, and racing was canceled,” according to Jerry
Bossert of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. NYRA closed the track yesterday in part because
of the “uncertainty over whether the jockeys would ride.” Jockey Norberto
Arroyo Jr., who was sent to Jamaica Hospital after being injured in an accident
Saturday, “wanted to be taken to North Shore University Hospital instead
of Jamaica because of what he regarded as the poor care received at Jamaica by
jockey Jose Santos” after an accident last week. But Aqueduct EMS Supervisor
Tony Durante said that protocol “requires that patients be taken to the
closest trauma unit.” Jockey Mike Luzzi noted that jockeys in the past “could
request the hospital they preferred but no longer are allowed to do so.”
He added that jockeys had met with NYRA management “in an attempt to get
the policy changed.” Jamaica Hospital VP/Emergency Medicine Ole Pedersen
said of the claims of poor care received at the hospital, “These issues
have never been brought to my attention to address them” (N.Y. DAILY
NEWS, 2/4). But retired jockey Jerry Bailey said, “We made an agreement
with [NYRA] management back in 1992-93 that unless you’re in a severe state
of trauma and fear for your life, you’ll be taken to North Shore. The jockeys
always felt Jamaica Hospital was a disaster” (N.Y. POST, 2/4).
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