Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital will stay open for the foreseeable future unless it gets the seal of approval to close by the state Department of Health.

A lawsuit led to a temporary restraining order keeping Beth Israel from closing. The hospital was set to close Friday contingent on the go-ahead.

"They can't close without the judge lifting the temporary restraining order," Arthur Schwartz, lead attorney in the lawsuit challenging the hospital's closure, said.

On Tuesday, Schwartz said Beth Israel employees told him they were still getting guidance saying the hospital would shutter on Friday. Schwartz said he threatened hospital leadership with legal action if they violated the temporary restraining order.

"I will immediately go to court and seek jail time for the president of Mount Sinai and the president of Beth Israel," Schwartz said.

Loren Riegelhaupt, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai, said Wednesday that the hospital would not be closing on July 12, but still plans to do so once legally possible.

"We are still closing and must do so ASAP," Riegelhaupt wrote in a statement. "We set the July 12th date as the last day we believed that we could safely keep the hospital open. Due to DOH not yet approving the plan and a legal fight, we will not close on the 12th, but it is vital that we close ASAP."

Schwartz tells a different story.

"They've been angling to close as of Friday until last night when we threatened them," Schwartz said.

Riegelhaupt said a memo of the delay went out to hospital staff, adding that the hospital has lost more than 450 employees.

Officials at Beth Israel said it is getting harder to maintain care. Back in May, they said there was only $29 million in cash reserves remaining.

"It's so unfortunate that right now the hospital is in a position where they're putting out information saying that it's urgent that they close because of the conditions that they themselves created," Manhattan City Councilmember Carlina Rivera said.

Rivera said the hospital's closure will have devastating impacts on the community and the 400,000 people it serves. She added the proposal to mitigate care remains insufficient in supporting those residents.

"We'd like to see services remain in the community at that site, preferably, and so we're going to continue to negotiate and demand better from them," Rivera said.

The hospital has tried to phase services out, but it was ordered to stop by the state Department of Health. In March, the DOH found the hospital violated a cease-and-desist order that bars them from doing so, pending approval.

Schwartz said if the hospital stopped pursuing the closing date, staff would come back.

"There is no alternative. There is no way to mitigate. So, the only answer is to keep it open," Schwartz said.