Listen: Remembering a doctor lost to COVID-19
Dr. James Mahoney of Freeport a lung doctor treating patients with severe respiratory illnesses, died April 27 at NYU Langone Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. He was 62. Credit: Sandra Chisholm
Episode 25 of “Life Under Coronavirus” is a to memorial Dr. James Mahoney, a pioneering black doctor who died in the pandemic. (click/tap to listen)
Mahoney, of Freeport, pushed off retirement to keep serving his Brooklyn patients during coronavirus -- until succumbing to the disease himself.
He was a mentor to countless New York physicians, a “legend” with a “deep sense of morality” who gave patients his cell phone number and practiced his craft until the end.
“He just was driven by this moral compass,” said Dr. Robert Foronjy, chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. “And he didn't wear like religion on his sleeve, but he was a very faith driven man. And he had an intrinsic belief in the dignity of the individual, and that all of us were equal under the eyes of God.”
Mark Chiusano is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
