Commentary: This shouldn’t happen to women

A northwest Georgia hospital, in financial peril, shut down its labor and delivery services this week.

Dr. Carla Roberts

Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe joined many other Georgia hospitals that have given up obstetrical services, citing costs.

In a new GHN Commentary, Dr. Carla Roberts, a founding partner of Reproductive Surgical Specialists at Northside Forsyth Hospital, argues that these obstetrics closures, coupled with a high maternal mortality rate, constitute a “war on women.’’ She doesn’t use this controversial term to make a partisan point, but she doesn’t use it lightly, either.

“Good prenatal care requires 10 prenatal visits,” Roberts writes. “Georgia Medicaid currently reimburses each physician $300 in toto for these 10 visits. That is $30 per visit.” And malpractice insurance remains expensive, she says.

Roberts calls for a legislative solution to these problems.

Here’s a link to her Commentary.

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