There has been increasing concern in Baltimore recently that the ready availability of quality obstetrics services in the city’s hospitals might be at risk because of a number of factors, such as litigation fears and increasingly high costs. Access to high quality maternity services is essential to helping to prevent birth injuries .
The city’s Health Commissioner is among those expressing concern and she wants to schedule meetings with the obstetrics department chair from various hospitals to discuss possible money-saving initiatives and how to avoid cutting back on vital needed services. She is also contemplating examining how another major city coped with a series of closures of maternity units at its hospitals.
The city’s health department is understandably concerned about trying to reduce the infant mortality rate, and knows that any cutback in hospital maternity services would undoubtedly undercut such efforts. In the two-year period between 2009 and 2011, some progress was made as infant deaths in the city decreased by 27 percent. Much of that decline was attributed by some to increased access to prenatal care for pregnant women.
There have been an increasing number of high-dollar amount awards in medical malpractice lawsuits in Baltimore arising out of birth injuries suffered by babies born in Baltimore hospitals. When doctors or other medical personnel fail to adequately perform services needed in connection with prenatal care and the delivery of babies, innocent children and their parents suffer the tragic results.
Parents of children suffering birth injuries should immediately consult with an experienced medical malpractice attorney to explore their options, and see to it that adequate compensation is obtained to provide for the care of their injured or disabled children if medical malpractice has resulted in such tragedies.
Source: Baltimore Business Journal, Baltimore’s health commissioner wants to thwart potential obstetrics crisis” Sarah Gantz, Jun. 20, 2013