New York City may soon be left with only a single independent center for natural childbirth: “The Brooklyn Birthing Center says its insurance company has stopped covering midwives, and a costlier new policy could push them out of the baby-birthing business as well. The news comes less than a week after the highly regarded Elizabeth Seton Childbearing Center, which delivers more than 400 babies a year, announced it will shut down its West 14th Street [Manhattan] birthing rooms on Sept. 1 because of malpractice insurance costs it says have quadrupled.” All three independent midwifery centers in New Jersey closed in recent years; one remains in the Bronx which receives federal funding and insurance. (Susan Edelman, “Midwife Strife Hits Moms in Brooklyn”, New York Post, Aug. 17; Dan Mangan, “Midwife Crisis”, New York Post, Aug. 12). And in Tallahassee, Fla., a doubling of insurance rates has contributed to the closing of Full Circle Women’s Health, a nonprofit midwifery agency whose efforts have been credited with helping reduce the county’s high rate of neonatal mortality. (Jeff Burlew, “Area midwifery agency closing after 20 years”, Tallahassee Democrat, Aug. 13)(more on obstetric liability)(& update Sept. 3, letter to the editor Sept. 18)

Filed under: medical, New Jersey, obstetric