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A rural hospital closed its obstetrics unit. Here's what happened afterward.
NBC News ^ | Nov 21, 2021 | Jean Lee

Posted on 11/21/2021 4:23:05 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?

Shantell Jones gave birth in an ambulance parked on the side of a Connecticut highway. Even though she lived six blocks away from a hospital, the emergency vehicle had to drive to another one about 30 minutes away.

The closer medical center, Windham Hospital, discontinued labor and delivery services last year and is working to permanently cease childbirth services after “years of declining births and recruitment challenges,” its operator, Hartford HealthCare, has said.

But medical and public health experts say the step could potentially put pregnant women at risk if they don't have immediate access to medical attention. Losing obstetrics services, they said, could be associated with increased preterm births, emergency room births and out-of-hospital births without resources nearby, like Jones' childbirth experience.

The dilemma Jones faced is one that thousands of other pregnant women living in rural communities without obstetrics units nearby are encountering as hospitals cut back or close services to reduce costs.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: baby; birthing; medical; obstetrics
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I personally believe the two main causes of this lack of medical facilities are lawsuits and government.

That being said a simple solution could be going back to midwives. The majority of births should be fairly standard as this type service worked for centuries.

1 posted on 11/21/2021 4:23:05 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Obamacare was an attempt to regionalize healthcare. Didn’t work, so they created COVID. That worked. Best thing to do.. move to a remote spot, go Amish and wait out the insanity.


2 posted on 11/21/2021 4:27:44 AM PST by momincombatboots (Ephesians 6... who you are really at war with.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Makes you wonder how we survived the 1800s with ambulance-stagecoaches and just regular women handling childbirth duty.


3 posted on 11/21/2021 4:32:29 AM PST by pepsionice
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To: momincombatboots

“Best thing to do.. move to a remote spot, go Amish and wait out the insanity.”

Absolutely... But this takes sacrifices of “lifestyle” our spoiled culture is unwilling to make. We could whip this insanity if more had the strength and fortitude to do this and feed the beast as little as possible.


4 posted on 11/21/2021 4:40:21 AM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: momincombatboots

” Best thing to do.. move to a remote spot, go Amish and wait out the insanity.”

They’ll find you and bring you into the web of control.


5 posted on 11/21/2021 4:43:55 AM PST by dljordan (Slouching towards Woketopia)
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To: pepsionice

The mortality rate of both mother and/or child was a lot higher in the 1800s though.


6 posted on 11/21/2021 4:44:16 AM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: momincombatboots

And build back better plans to destroy everything in its path and ...........build it back better(sarc) This is their objective , if the build it they control it and you


7 posted on 11/21/2021 4:45:04 AM PST by ronnie raygun
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To: pepsionice

>>Makes you wonder how we survived the 1800s with ambulance-stagecoaches and just regular women handling childbirth duty.

Lots of women didn’t survive, thats how - dying in childbirth was very common back then. In places with modern healthcare it is now (fortunately) very rare and newsworthy when it happens. We should all be happy that it has become rare thing to die while giving birth.


8 posted on 11/21/2021 4:48:48 AM PST by qwerty1234
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To: Openurmind
The mortality rate of both mother and/or child was a lot higher in the 1800s though.

I think a large percentage of that was the lack of understanding of germs and hygiene.

9 posted on 11/21/2021 4:50:12 AM PST by Lizavetta
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

A few years ago, the maternity ward was closed at our rural PA hospital.

Having a baby will become more “burdensome” for some women.


10 posted on 11/21/2021 4:52:09 AM PST by syriacus (Should actors handling guns on movie sets have rudimentary firearms safety training?)
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To: pepsionice

Makes you wonder how we survived the 1800s with ambulance-stagecoaches and just regular women handling childbirth duty.


Sometimes they didn’t survive. 18th century maternal death rate was 25 per thousand, versus 0.1 per thousand now.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3511335/


11 posted on 11/21/2021 4:52:09 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (A Leftist can't enjoy life unless they are controlling, hurting, or destroying others)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The only hospital in a town not too far from us closed their obstetrics services and the town has a population of 43k. It is just crazy in a town this size. Nearest other hospital is an hour away.


12 posted on 11/21/2021 4:53:38 AM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

>>I personally believe the two main causes of this lack of medical facilities are lawsuits and government.

Don’t disagree, but what that really means is that in order to provide the higher level of care that helps guard against lawsuits, and meets gov regulations, it means that you need to be running a birthing/labor until with ever increasing patient loads - you can’t cheap put on some rural clinic with a few deliveries a week - the volumes won’t support paying for the necessary staff and latest equipment. Lots of deliveries means you can spread out the cost on lots of patients. Can’t do that with a handful of patients.

I don’t see this trend ending - the move to fewer and bigger and better equipped hospitals, that are further away from small populations.


13 posted on 11/21/2021 4:53:55 AM PST by qwerty1234
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Most “services” are really “jobs” for Democrats, but they can’t say that out loud. They have to say it’s something for you rather than an easy ride for them.


14 posted on 11/21/2021 4:54:02 AM PST by Reeses
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

You’re missing the more obvious cause: “Shantell Jones”.

Medicaid reimbursement rates are unprofitable.


15 posted on 11/21/2021 4:54:10 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (A Leftist can't enjoy life unless they are controlling, hurting, or destroying others)
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To: qwerty1234

My dad was born in 1934 at home on the kitchen table according to my grandmother. So was his younger brother. Knowing my grandmother she figured the table would be easier to clean up than the bed. The doctor came to the house.

Everything was fine until my grandmother was in her 50’s. She developed uterine cancer from an unhealed tear in her uterus. She was saved by modern medicine 30 years after the home births with a hysterectomy and cancer treatment. She lived to be 95 with no more cancer or other health issues. Had those births happened in the 1800’s she would have died in her 50’s instead of nearly 100.


16 posted on 11/21/2021 4:58:30 AM PST by Tennessee Conservative (My goal in life is to be the person my dog's think I am)
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To: Lizavetta

“I think a large percentage of that was the lack of understanding of germs and hygiene.”

I agree, and not sure cesarean procedures were very well known or common. Premature birth support, understanding of Jaundice, Etc.


17 posted on 11/21/2021 5:00:11 AM PST by Openurmind (The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children. ~ D. Bonhoeffer)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

It’s (Windham, CT)a town of 18k and 30 min. away from Hartford. I don’t see a problem. Our hospital is 30 min. away and we had 2 babies with no issues.


18 posted on 11/21/2021 5:00:19 AM PST by Farmerbob
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To: momincombatboots

That reminds me of the Amish gentleman who, when asked why Covid had relatively little effect on the Amish community, replied:

“We don’t have television.”


19 posted on 11/21/2021 5:00:50 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

OB/gyns get sued more than other doctors


20 posted on 11/21/2021 5:04:41 AM PST by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston? )
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