Travelling to other states. The anti-abortion laws are so strict it makes practicing even as a rabid anti-abortion tradcath risky. Basically if the baby dies for any reason the burden of proof is on the doctor to show it wasn't an abortion.
my shot in the dark guess is that they'll try to do something with midwifery. some states have midwife certification programs, or did. there was interest in them reforming in the early 2000s when the critiques of hospital birthing services being business oriented (choosing C-sections so it could be scheduled easier/assembly line style... ricki lake i think had a documentary that went wide "The Business of Being Born), but it wasn't a thing hospitals were willing to concede.
if hospitals can't capture that value using doctors, i could see a scenario where they become more amicable to a certification program for low paid staff to provide minimal services, with the caveat that they won't be liable if there are complications. as i said, it's a shot in the dark at a "solve" for the hospitals/law, but when there's a cheap labor pool to recapture a revenue stream, i suspect the lawyers, administrators, and legislators will find a way to make something work that degrades us all.
“Without pediatrician coverage to manage neonatal resuscitations and perinatal care, it is unsafe and unethical to offer routine labor and delivery services,” the press release said, citing months of negotiations that sought to avoid the outcome. “BGH has reached out to other active and retired providers in the community requesting assistance with pediatric call coverage with no long-term sustainable solutions.”
Longtime Idaho OBGYN says she is leaving the state amid hospital announcement
The release also said highly respected, talented physicians are leaving the state, and recruiting replacements will be "extraordinarily difficult."
Dr. Amelia Huntsberger, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Bonner General Health, said in an email to States Newsroom that she will soon leave the hospital and the state because of the abortion laws as well as the Idaho Legislature’s decision not to continue the state’s maternal mortality review committee.
The government just keeps digging themselves further. Almost like they clearly don't give a shit.
Are these missing staff leaving the labour pool entirely or travelling to other states causing higher competition for wages?
Travelling to other states. The anti-abortion laws are so strict it makes practicing even as a rabid anti-abortion tradcath risky. Basically if the baby dies for any reason the burden of proof is on the doctor to show it wasn't an abortion.
What happens if/when enough of these places can't run? Can state law compel the hospitals to provide birth services?
I mean, how? No doctors, no nurses. Hard enough to get them to come to backcountry Idaho at the best of times.
my shot in the dark guess is that they'll try to do something with midwifery. some states have midwife certification programs, or did. there was interest in them reforming in the early 2000s when the critiques of hospital birthing services being business oriented (choosing C-sections so it could be scheduled easier/assembly line style... ricki lake i think had a documentary that went wide "The Business of Being Born), but it wasn't a thing hospitals were willing to concede.
if hospitals can't capture that value using doctors, i could see a scenario where they become more amicable to a certification program for low paid staff to provide minimal services, with the caveat that they won't be liable if there are complications. as i said, it's a shot in the dark at a "solve" for the hospitals/law, but when there's a cheap labor pool to recapture a revenue stream, i suspect the lawyers, administrators, and legislators will find a way to make something work that degrades us all.
The government just keeps digging themselves further. Almost like they clearly don't give a shit.