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.
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.