Seaside hospital to shut down labor and delivery, newborn care services | kgw.com
The hospital is delivering one baby per week, on average, and their sole OB/GYN retired. This is the effect of the fertility rate collapse now underway. It is very expensive to keep specialized, skilled staff on call or on duty 24 x 7.
The lack of babies is a problem for rural hospitals which once had viable delivery programs but now, with 1 or fewer deliveries per week, they cannot afford to retain specialized staff to provide these specialized services in rural areas.
