"Sigita Cahoon's 16 September 2024 stretched through the night. From 3am to 6am, she bolted among three rooms in the Los Angeles general medical center, until three babies were safely delivered. Staying up all night to deliver babies is a big part of Cahoon's job as the hospital's vice-chief of obstetrics and gynecology. But with more Los Angeles-area hospitals closing their maternity wards, emergency rooms are expected to shoulder even greater patient loads."
"At Los Angeles general medical center, a public teaching hospital in LA's Boyle Heights neighborhood, more than 1,400 women passed through the emergency room doors to access care during labor and delivery from 2016 to 2023. And when a patient shows up, we want to take care of them because we know that they often will now have to drive an hour to two hours to the next hospital."
Los Angeles County has experienced at least five maternity ward closures since 2023 and 16 since 2014. Public hospitals such as Los Angeles General Medical Center are receiving more labor-and-delivery patients through emergency rooms, with more than 1,400 women accessing ER-based birthing care there from 2016 to 2023. From 2016 to 2023, over 26,500 people—about 64% Latino—sought birthing care in county emergency rooms. The county's birth rate has declined markedly during the period, but ER visits and admissions for labor and delivery rose by roughly 14% from 2016 to 2023, increasing pressure on remaining maternity services.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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