The needs of the patient come first

Our local hospital, Providence/St. Joseph's (now the only hospital in the country that takes care of laboring women, since Mad River's closure last October), has made the national news this year due to at least one lawsuit against the hospital by our state's AG due to infringement on women's rights by forcing religions/ethical directives and limiting the emergent care by providers of women with incomplete pregnancy loss or non-viable pregnancies due to preterm complications. 

A recent hearing last month (which I was unable to attend) re-discussed the issue, and attorneys for Providence challenged the previously agreed-upon responsibility to treat antepartum emergencies (like inevitable miscarriage, pre-viable preterm labor, PPROM, antepartum hemorrhage, etc. even if a fetal heartbeat is present) as situations requiring nuanced medical (not religious/political) decisions between providers and patients. 

Several doctors in our delivery group collaborated to publish thislocal journal article that came out this week, which explains that our duty is not to unjust and often patriarchal, inhumane, or rigid hospital systems, but to our patients, many of whom already drive long distances to reach our maternity ward in the desert that is Humboldt County.

I have stood up for women and their rights in the childbirth setting for many years, and even as I fade off into the sunset in this part of my career, I vow to continue serve our patients humbly and compassionately in some of the hardest days of their lives.  I am thankful to have so many colleagues that vow to do the same, even as we may face the threat of hospital retaliation.   

As I learned way back in medical school,  "THE NEEDS OF THE PATIENT COME FIRST."

(- Dr. Will Mayo).