Nina Pejoves, LegalHealth/NYLAG

Nina Pejoves is a Staff Attorney at LegalHealth, a division of the New York Legal Assistance Group. LegalHealth provides free legal assistance to low-income New Yorkers with serious health problems and trains healthcare professionals to recognize legal issues that may negatively affect medical outcomes.


For low income patients, staying healthy can mean more than receiving medical care. Problems with housing, insurance, or immigration status occur away from the doctor, but can still take a significant toll on health.

Nina Pejoves directs legal clinics situated within two Montefiore Medical Center sites, as a staff attorney with LegalHealth, a division of the New York Legal Assistance Group. She provides low-income patients with free legal services directly in the hospital, helping them overcome these nonmedical barriers to health when and where they need it most.

“Cases can vary depending on the client, their health, and their specific legal issues,” explains Ms. Pejoves. “I can work with the doctor to strengthen a client’s disability or public assistance appeal. When a client is served with an eviction notice, I go to court with them. If someone is applying for citizenship but they’re too sick to take the required English and U.S history test, I help doctors complete a form explaining why they can’t take those tests.”

To learn each patient’s full story, Ms. Pejoves listens closely. “I ask a lot of questions,” she says. “It’s usually not just one issue per client- there are a lot of legal areas that affect low income people. For example, if you get your client an immigration remedy, that improves their eligibility for Medicaid. Those two can go hand in hand.”

Before a patient can receive any legal assistance, however, doctors must first recognize the need and know how to find help. For this, training is essential. “I work with doctors to identify legal issues that could be affecting their patients’ health, such as poor housing conditions, income instability, lack of immigration status, or health insurance eligibility, and I train them to refer those patients to me,” Ms. Pejoves explains.

Montefiore’s doctors have grown to see Ms. Pejoves as a valuable resource and source of support in their patient care. “Legal presence helps providers take a more holistic approach to how they listen to their patients,” she says. “It helps to learn how social issues affect their patient’s health, and to know that there is a legal professional who will step up.”

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(Published January 4, 2016)