'Everyone's devastated': Dr. Bruce Maurice Henry, slain pediatric ER physician, remembered

Colleagues and families who were helped by Dr. Bruce Maurice Henry reflected on his kindness and acumen as a medical provider after the pediatric emergency room physician was slain Dec. 23 in a brutal knife attack in Manhattan. His killing has been linked to a suspect in a string of vicious incidents, including another fatal knifing just days earlier.

The 60-year-old physician worked at several hospitals in the region, including Montefiore Nyack Hospital.

Dr. Sandhya Katz, a New Rochelle doctor, had worked with Henry as a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Montefiore Nyack Hospital and at New York Hospital Cornell in Queens.

“Everyone’s devastated,” she said. “He was an absolutely phenomenal physician. He was very kind.”

Katz said that Henry was at the heart of social events with ER staff. “They’re very crushed,” she said.

Linda Blanco worked with Henry at Montefiore Nyack Hospital in the pediatric emergency room. She said Henry would help out at Career Day at Pearl River Middle School, where her children attended. “It was wonderful to see many of the students recognize Dr. Henry while they were a patient in the ER for an injury or illness,” she recalled. “After spending time mentoring students on how to become a doctor, he then went and worked a 12-plus hour shift in the emergency room.”

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Blanco remembered his dedication, compassion and calming manner

“I learned so much from him,” Blanco said. “The world has lost a wonderful doctor.”

Helen Pinder-Dolinsky of Upper Nyack said Henry had treated her children in the ER. "He was a lovely human," the mother of three said.

'He was a great colleague'

In a statement, Montefiore Nyack Hospital said that Henry had worked for an emergency medicine group, not directly for the hospital.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of Dr. Henry’s untimely passing,” the statement read. “He had been a valued member of our Emergency Department team serving as a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician. Our thoughts are with his family and colleagues at this time.”

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As a locum tenens physician, Henry would work in emergency rooms around the region, placed where he was needed.

Henry worked as a pediatrician in the Jefferson Washington Township (New Jersey) Hospital Emergency Department from 2019 to June 2022.  “We extend our sympathies to Dr. Henry’s family and friends in light of this tragic loss,”  said Nicole Pensiero, spokesperson for Jefferson Health in New Jersey.

Henry earned his medical degree from the SUNY Upstate College of Medicine in Syracuse in 1987. He completed his residency at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and was board certified in pediatrics.

“He took care of a lot of my patients,” said Dr. Jeffrey Karasik, a pediatrician and president of Clarkstown Pediatrics. “He was a wonderful ER doctor. His death was a shock. He was a great colleague.”

Joyce Platt worked as a per diem nurse with Henry at Montefiore Nyack Hospital from 2003 to 2018. She and pediatric ER staff frequently get together, and Henry would join when he could. She said he was generous. “He would usually pay for everyone,” Platt said. “If we tried to pay, he would take the check.”

Platt said Henry recently told her that he was working at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, flying down one week a month, and he would see his mom, who was living there and was about to turn 100. The family was originally from Jamaica.

“His birthday was Christmas Eve, which was the next day after that happened,” Platt said of the early-morning attack near 120th Street, “which made it even worse.”

'He didn't deserve what he got'

Henry lived in the Spuyten Duyvil section of the Bronx, in a high-rise that sits by the Hudson.

He was attacked inside Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem in the early hours of Dec. 23. He suffered numerous stab wounds.

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said police linked the attack against Henry to a Dec. 19 knife slaying in the East Village and a string of assaults in the city.

The suspect in the slaying was arrested while driving the doctor’s black Mercedes Benz some 12 hours after Henry’s body was found.

Roland Codrington, 35, has been charged with two murders and multiple other charges related to the string of attacks, according to the NYPD.

Police have said the stabbing victims seemed to have no prior connection to the suspect, nor to each other. Law enforcement had already been seeking the suspect in connection with the first homicide and other attacks. They then saw video of the suspect and his girlfriend getting into the doctor’s car.

“For whatever reason he was in the park at that time and he didn’t deserve what he got,” said Chief of Detectives James Essig said Monday about Henry.

Katz said that ER doctors work shifts that can go from noon to midnight or 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., so she added it wouldn’t be unusual for Henry or any other emergency provider to be out at that time. “We really get off work at weird hours," Katz said.

The circumstances, Katz said, remain disturbing. Henry had saved so many with his skills in addressing traumas, and then he was killed this way, left alone.

“It’s such a gory death for someone who was very kind, nonconfrontational, pretty much laughed through everything,” she said. "He was a totally peaceful person.”

Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland. 

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Dr. Bruce Maurice Henry, stabbed to death in Manhattan, remembered