BAYLOR SCOTT AND WHITE TEMPORARILY CLOSES LABOR AND DELIVERY

  

The shortage of certified OBGYN doctors in Brenham has caused the temporary closure of the Labor and Delivery Department at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Brenham.

Expectant mothers who come to Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Brenham are being diverted to the College Station facility.  Dr. Aaron Campbell, the lone certified OBGYN doctor in Brenham, is out on leave until December 21st.  Until Dr. Campbell returns, or unless a temporary “fill-in” doctor is hired, the Brenham Birthing facility will remain closed.

Dr. Campbell has been handling the Labor and Delivery duties at the local hospital by himself since the untimely death of long-time Brenham doctor Wiley Nobles.

Back on November 13th, the local board for Brenham’s Baylor Scott and White Medical Center voted against a proposal to permanently close the Labor and Delivery Department.  The company released a statement saying the vote allowed them more time to evaluate options for the service locally.  Baylor Scott and White officials say they have had difficulty finding OBGYN doctors to fill the open positions in Brenham.

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17 Comments

  1. Dr. Cambell is a wonderful OBGYN, however a large reason people go elsewhere is Brenham is not equipped to handle anything other than routine pregnancies and births. My daughter had Dr. Campbell, but was sent to Temple when problems started in her pregnancy. Most people would rather start with the doctor they will be using instead of being sent somewhere else half way through. Also God forbid there is a problem at birth since we don’t have a NICU. The baby would have to be transferred to a different hospital with the mom still stuck in Brenham. Frankly I don’t know many moms who would be ok with that situation.

    1. Thank you Amanda. I’ve been reading these comments on this situation since the beginning and no one has said anything like you just did. We have been delivering babies since the dawn of time at home, without doctors. It’s only been within the past 100 years or so, maybe less, that women have begun recieving quality prenatal care and delivering in state-of-the-art facilities. If it’s a normal delivery with no complications before or after birth, any hospital can handle that; people do it in their own home all of the time. But what happens, as in your daughter’s situation or others, if something goes wrong before, during, or after the delivery? Those babies need to be delivered in a facility with a neonatal ICUabd speciality care physicians and staff. Those babies need very high level speciality care immediately, within minutes. Those babies can’t wait the one hour or so it’s going to take the ambulance to transfer them to College Station or even farther to Temple or Houston. Time is critical in a complicated child birth. Ask yourself this: if you had to risk the chance of your child not receive acute level care immediately after delivery to treat any complications that might prevent them from suffering lifelong medical conditions or worse just so you could say your child was born in Brenham, would it really be worth it?

      1. Amanda and 3Reds…..there have been tens of thousands of babies born in Brenham hospitals without a NICU. Very few hospitals have one, and the only nearby high level NICU’s are in Austin and Houston. If your OBGYN suspects that you may have a complicated delivery with the possibility of needing a NICU, he or she will transfer you to a hospital that can take care of you. Not having a NICU is certainly not a reason to shut down Labor and Delivery services in our local hospital.

  2. AAFP-ACOG Joint Statement on Cooperative Practice and Hospital Privileges

    https://www.aafp.org/about/policies/all/aafp-acog.html

    Access to maternity care is an important public health concern in the United States. Providing comprehensive perinatal services to a diverse population requires a cooperative relationship among a variety of health professionals, including social workers, health educators, nurses and physicians. Prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum care have historically been provided by midwives, family physicians and obstetricians. All three remain the major caregivers today. A cooperative and collaborative relationship among obstetricians, family physicians and nurse midwives is essential for provision of consistent, high-quality care to pregnant women.

    Regardless of specialty, there should be shared common standards of perinatal care. This requires a cooperative working environment and shared decision making. Clear guidelines for consultation and referral for complications should be developed jointly. When appropriate, early and ongoing consultation regarding a woman’s care is necessary for the best possible outcome and is an important part of risk management and prevention of professional liability problems. All family physicians and obstetricians on the medical staff of the obstetric unit should agree to such guidelines and be willing to work together for the best care of patients. This includes a willingness on the part of obstetricians to provide consultation and back-up for family physicians who provide maternity care. The family physician should have knowledge, skills and judgment to determine when timely consultation and/or referral may be appropriate.

    The most important objective of the physician must be the provision of the highest standards of care, regardless of specialty. Quality patient care requires that all providers should practice within their degree of ability as determined by training, experience and current competence. A joint practice committee with obstetricians and family physicians should be established in health care organizations to determine and monitor standards of care and to determine proctoring guidelines. A collegial working relationship between family physicians and obstetricians is essential if we are to provide access to quality care for pregnant women in this country.

    A. Practice privileges
    The assignment of hospital privileges is a local responsibility and privileges should be granted on the basis of training, experience and demonstrated current competence. All physicians should be held to the same standards for granting of privileges, regardless of specialty, in order to assure the provision of high-quality patient care. Prearranged, collaborative relationships should be established to ensure ongoing consultations, as well as consultations needed for emergencies.

    The standard of training should allow any physician who receives training in a cognitive or surgical skill to meet the criteria for privileges in that area of practice. Provisional privileges in primary care, obstetric care and cesarean delivery should be granted regardless of specialty as long as training criteria and experience are documented. All physicians should be subject to a proctorship period to allow demonstration of ability and current competence. These principles should apply to all health care systems.

    B. Interdepartmental relationships
    Privileges recommended by the department of family medicine shall be the responsibility of the department of family medicine. Similarly, privileges recommended by the department of obstetrics-gynecology shall be the responsibility of the department of obstetrics-gynecology. When privileges are recommended jointly by the departments of family medicine and obstetrics-gynecology, they shall be the joint responsibility of the two departments. (1998) (2018 October BOD)

    Note: This joint statement was developed by a joint task force of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. This policy is used often by family physicians providing obstetric and gynecological care and referred to by AAFP leadership when appropriate.

  3. All the free healthcare a certain political party promised sounded great, so you voted for them. They “forgot” to tell you you’d have to go Houston to access it. One by one rural hospital departments will close, then the entire hospitals. All that will be left will be giant government hospitals in the big cities. Exactly how the system you voted for was designed. Told you so…

    1. This has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act. The biggest driver in these decisions is the persistent view among people in Brenham that the medical care offered here is not good enough. Multiple friends and colleagues of mine decided that the only place to deliver their children was in College Station. That’s what is killing L&D in Brenham. Until the community and Baylor Scott & White can change that perception, L&D will continue to suffer.

      1. You are correct that more people need to choose Brenham for the birth of their children. However, the choice of hospital is often pre-determined by the choice of a doctor (OBGYN). With only one certified OBGYN in Brenham, people will look elsewhere for their physician. And those doctors will deliver babies in out of town hospitals. Hopefully Baylor Scott & White will bring one or two more quality OBGYN’s to Brenham. At that time we can make a case that people need to “choose Brenham”.

        1. What incentive does Scott and White have to seek a new set of labor and delivery docs for Brenham? The now control the entire situation by essentially now turning the Brenham hospital into a big free standing ER and steering all pregnancy cases to their facility in College Station? The Scott and White brass also get local Washington County donors to pay for this through a lucrative annual fundraiser, which focuses not on the local priority of Labor and Delivery being restored!

          It’s a brilliant plan, but sad for Washington County and the rural neighbors who will never have a baby born in Brenham again.

          Please ask the local Scott and White board if Scott and White has any interest in the long term sustainability of Labor and Delivery in Brenham. It’s a simple question that has remained unanswered.
          There’s plenty of local foundation funding to help recruit doctors for this, but if Scott and White wants nothing but a lucrative ER that spins off patients to College Station, why even contribute to it?

          Will another baby ever be born in Brenham? Scott and White must decide. React accordingly!

          1. I agree with 100% The Brenham Scott & white is really just a “Holding Station” for patients until they can ship them to Temple or College Station , That’s where they want their money to go. I also agree that people should not donate any money to the Fund raising Gala put on every year ,Since its obvious that the Scott & White Organization doesn’t really seem to care about Brenham

    1. He is but I think he just deals with his patients and his partners patients he isn’t on call for emergencies at the hospital that pop up. Atleast that’s my take on the situation. Hopefully they can get it figured out soon.

  4. Soon many of us will receive an invitation to the annual S&W Hospital fundraiser where Washington County usually is expected to raise over $200,000 annually. Until the Brazos County medical leadership of S&W refocuses on labor and delivery for Washington County and surrounding rural residents I suggest no one donate one DIME. Nobody can get the straight story. It’s a case of recruitment? Then form a task force and use LOCAL foundation money for labor and delivery. Is it a new state regulation making it hard to do labor and delivery ? Then cite the statute….(hint: there isn’t one). There is something rotten here, and the board owes the public an explanation.

        1. No, its not the board. The board is fighting to keep Labor and Delivery services in Brenham. Currently the board is the ONLY reason BSW hasn’t shut it down. Its the BSW local administration that need to be called out on what their real plan is, they will drag their feet until all the nurses quit and “they can’t find staff” ……???????????? then sneak in for the kill…

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