GILROY—Christine Newberg has helped deliver hundreds of babies at Gilroy’s Saint Louise Regional Hospital and believes the Daughters of Charity Health System’s decision to close that obstetric unit puts lives at risk and is “incredibly irresponsible.”
While 90 percent of births go well, the rest can require expert intervention, the labor and delivery room nurse told the Dispatch. Emergency room doctors and nurses—who currently rely on OB staff—lack the experience and expertise to recognize and handle all the potentially life-threatening situations that can arise, she said.
In those cases, a “mad dash” to the operating room is often needed to save the life of a baby, the mother or both, said Newberg, and specialists have to be on hand.
Under hospital policy, delivering mothers dilated to 4 cm or more cannot be transferred to another facility, said Newberg, wondering who’ll care for them.
With the closure of the Saint Louise obstetrics unit, announced last week and slated to happen within 90 days, expectant mothers will have to go elsewhere for maternal and neo-natal care—including those in the throes of miscarriage.
In the meantime, DCHS officials refused this week to identify new bidders for their financially failing system, after their pick from the first round of bids backed out of the $843 million deal in March.
In 2013 and 2014, the obstetrics unit at Saint Louise delivered 1,121 newborns, and Newberg said on average it delivers 60 babies a month—more than half to uninsured patients with no place else to go.
Newberg suggested DCHS allow a “skeleton crew” from the unit to manage obstetric emergencies around the clock.
Saint Louise Regional Hospital President and CEO Jim Dover last week said the obstetrics and pediatric units lose money and must be shut down to help to fix the bottom line in a hospital system losing $100 million a year.
The announcement shocked labor and delivery unit personnel.
“Now there is no maternal health emergency service for the entire area,” said a nurse who asked to remain anonymous. “Cut it to minimal staffing or 24-hour on-calls and re-route normal patients, but to close it (is) crazy.”
Newberg said, “Not one single life lost is worth this incredibly irresponsible decision made by a charity hospital which runs the only labor and delivery unit” in an area.
Saint Louise draws patients from a population of about 173,000 that includes Gilroy, Morgan Hill, San Martin, San Juan Bautista and Hollister. Just over half its discharges are from Gilroy.
A consultant’s report found residents listed obstetrics second after emergency room care as the most important service offered at Saint Louise and that it provided nearly 62 percent of obstetrics beds in the area.
When the unit closes, mothers in all stages of pregnancy will have to travel to San Jose or Hollister for care.
District 1 Supervisor Mike Wasserman of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors said the county’s business is public health and he echoed the concerns expressed by medical professionals about obstetrics services.
“I wish they’d sell to us (the county) so we can continue services,” Wasserman said, speaking April 17 at the South County Legislative Summit in Gilroy.
He confirmed the county recently submitted a second bid to purchase the Gilroy hospital, which includes De Paul Urgent Care Center in Morgan Hill, and O’Connor Hospital in San Jose.
The county’s last bid was rejected in favor of Prime Healthcare’s offer to buy all six DCHS facilities, assume its debts and honor retirement obligations.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris approved that sale, but it fell though when Prime deemed her conditions excessive.
The first bids following Prime’s March walkout came in last week, but DCHS will not name bidders or say how many are interested.
“We’re not providing any of that information. We have confidentiality agreements,” spokesperson Beth Nickels said Tuesday.
