NEW YORK CITY — Former Mayor Ed Koch has been moved into intensive care.
Koch, 88, who has been in the hospital since Monday, was moved into the intensive care unit at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Thursday afternoon, his spokesman George Arzt said.
Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum, Koch's cardiologist, said he wanted to monitor the former mayor more closely, according to Arzt, who last spoke with Koch this morning
“He was tired,” Arzt said. “You know, it's clear that there is discomfort."
The three-term mayor and outspoken commentator has been in and out of the hospital repeatedly since last September, when he was treated for anemia.
He was admitted this week so that doctors could treat a fluid buildup in his lungs that was causing shortness of breath.
Since then, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn have been in close touch, and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly visited Wednesday, Arzt said.
Koch began his political career as a city councilman and congressman, and is credited with helping pull New York from the brink of economic collapse during his tenure at City Hall.
After serving as mayor, Koch worked as a professor, lawyer, radio host and commentator, and even appeared as a judge on "The People's Court" and hosted an online movie review show.
He still appears regularly on television as one of NY1's "Wiseguys" and continues to write movie reviews and political commentaries.
