August 15, 2003

Pioneer midwifery service closes in Chicago

An email arrived to day with sad news for midwives in the US. The message came from Norma Swenson, from the Harvard School of Public Health and it has been sent to various childbirth activists around the world. Here is the main text of the message:

“It is with a heavy heart that we inform our midwifery colleagues that the University of Chicago has decided to eliminate the Nurse Midwifery Practice.
Established in 1985 we have been the only private CNM practice on the South side of Chicago. The current philosophy of The University of Chicago, is to make OB/Gyne a state of the art high risk facility, with focus on filling the new Comer Children's hospital NICU (promising 1000 more babies/year for the NICU).
It appears there is no place for women to choose normal birth or to utilize the services of a CNM. We have consistently been cited for high patient satisfaction and optimal outcomes. But as we have been told this is not about patient satisfaction and choice, but all about money and power. We put together a plan with 4 different options that we felt would allow us to be fiscally responsible and continue our practice. All options were declined by Dr. Haney, the new Chair of OB/Gyne at U of C. His letter to the faculty today blamed the malpractice rates (departmental increase of 100%) as his reason for terminating our practice.”

The midwives have co-ordinated a campaign as best they can within the hospital system and they have had a lot of local support. If any of you would also like to register your concern with this loss of freedom of choice in Chicago, you can email the midwifery team at:

midwives@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu

The struggle to establish and maintain midwifery services is a world wide effort. We always think that our local conditions are less than ideal and are far from perfect, yet somewhere in the world there are always women worse off than we are, both having babies and working as midwives. As I said in an earlier posting on the state of birth in the USA - there are not many examples in that country that we would want to be emulating!

Posted by andrea at August 15, 2003 03:48 PM

Comments

Please email Dr. Haney, too, at:

ahaney@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu

Also, St. Vincent's Hospital in New York has decided to shut down the Elizabeth Seton birthing center there -- another blow for midwives in a major urban area!!!

Posted by: Katie on August 17, 2003 02:51 PM

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Awful. Unbelieveable. I had my baby with them and they are the very best. Please support them.

Posted by: Liz Cortell on September 9, 2003 12:43 PM

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We are still struggling to keep the midwives' practice open. Don't bother writing to Dr. Haney--he's hiding behind hospital PR people. Write to the following, and emphasize the damage being done to the reputation of U of C Hospitals by setting women's healthcare back 20 years:

Michael Riordan
President and CEO of the Hospital
mriordan@uchospitals.edu

James Madara, MD
Dean of the Biological Sciences
jmadara@bsd.uchicago.edu

Don Randel
President of the University
drandel@uchicago.edu

If you are a student or alumnus/a of the U of C, please sign our petition at www.supportUCmidwives.org.

Finally, please publicize the information above to every news server or mailing list you are on that is concerned with women's healthcare.

Thank you for your support.

Posted by: Jennifer Moran on November 7, 2003 02:48 PM

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The midwives at U of C are the best. I work as an advanced practice nurse and I am tired of doctors being threatened by us and trying to eliminate us as providers. I am pregnant now with my second child and I can't imagine going to a doctor who will simply walk in and "catch" my baby at the end of my labor (any nurse who has worked labor and delivery knows what I am talking about). What a sad example of health care U of C has become.

Posted by: Amy Manion RN, CPNP on November 8, 2003 03:39 PM

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