We Mourn Dr. Stephen Levin, 1942-2012

Dr. Levin doing what he did so well.
Dr. Levin doing what he did so well.

All New York City workers owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Stephen Levin, a trained occupational medical physician at Mt. Sinai Hospital, whether they know it or not. But one very special group of workers – those including 3,000 transit workers who responded to Ground Zero – does know him well. He played a key role in exposing and understanding the deadly toxins that swirled around us on 9/11 and in the days following.

Dr. Levin devoted his life to worker health and safety and to the prevention of work-related illnesses, injuries and deaths. Dr. Levin may have known more about the health status of transit workers than anyone else. He was our “primary care doctor” for work-related health problems for decades. When we met with Steve it was like meeting with another worker, but a worker who not only knew our problems, but also knew the difficulty of getting our employer, New York City Transit/MTA, to take our work-related health problems seriously. When he heard, first hand, about the attitude of the employer he would just shake his head. Not in disbelief -- he was not naïve – more out of disgust.

When the time came for him to review the Company’s Medical Standards (how NYCT evaluated a worker for return or not return to work) Steve did an exhaustive review.   But we could not get Transit to adopt his recommendations.

Steve understood that a physician’s work does not stop at a diagnosis and a treatment plan   He fully supported our members in their sometimes life-and-death struggle for workers’ compensation, pension benefits, and for their World Trade Center benefit. Often alone, he stood with us.

It wasn’t always easy. He knew about employer reluctance and refusal to follow federal and state occupational safety and health rules, often putting other budget lines ahead of money allocated for primary care and wellness. He know how the employer puts fear into the minds of workers that if they seek workers’ comp their jobs could be on the line. But he also knew that workers themselves are too often in denial about the conditions they face.   He understood that the employers play both to workers’ fears and to their fearlessness. After all, our members are young and tough.

Steve always showed infinite patience in convincing our members and union to do the right thing. Getting our members to get diagnostic testing after the WTC crisis was a personal effort by him. We are still struggling to get our members into these programs.

We will miss his steadfast support of TWU members and their families. He set a standard by which all care givers should be measured, with most falling short.

 

A memorial service will take place Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 4 p.m. at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Stern Auditorium, 1468 Madison Avenue (@ E. 100th Street, New York, NY 10029.