Brooklyn, NY – As maternity wards in hospitals across Brooklyn have closed their doors, those in the borough that haven’t are scrambling to keep up with a big influx of births.
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At Maimonides Medical Center, the 74 babies born in 48 hours two weeks ago set a record – but that was just the tip of the iceberg.
In the first five months of this year, 3,137 babies were born at the Borough Park hospital – up 16% since 2006.
“I don’t think there’s a biological event going on. I don’t think World War II ended nine months ago and the GIs are returning to Borough Park,” said Dr. Howard Minkoff, chairman of Maimonides’ obstetrics and gynecology.
Instead, Minkoff attributed the jump to the recent closings of St. Mary’s and Victory Memorial Hospitals, along with Long Island College Hospital’s threat to close its obstetrics unit.
“We [deliver babies] at some financial cost,” he said, noting that because of low insurance reimbursement rates, hospitals lose $1,000-$4,000 on every delivery. “Other hospitals have made a different calculus.”
Interfaith Medical Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant shuttered its maternity ward in 2004. Boroughwide, the number of obstetrics beds has dropped from 418 in 2001 to 377 today – meaning fewer beds to handle the same number of births.
At Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, 1,887 women gave birth from January through April of this year – up 22% from last year and 38% from 2007.
Dr. Steven Silver, vice president for medical affairs at Methodist, said many patients who would otherwise have given birth at LICH – where the state would not allow the maternity ward to be closed, but births have still fallen 19% – ended up at Methodist. Five doctors have also moved from LICH to Methodist, which has added three new labor and delivery rooms in the last two years.
“Now it’s getting tight again,” said Silver. “I don’t think we anticipated such a big rush so soon. LICH was a big surprise.”
Other hospitals reported more modest increases. Births at SUNY Downstate are up 5% since 2005.
Maimonides has nearly doubled its number of labor and delivery suites but is still struggling to keep up with high demand. “Once or twice a month you’ll have days that are just overwhelming,” Minkoff said. There was a smaller spike last week, with 33 babies delivered on Wednesday, compared to an average of 20 a day.
“Under no circumstances do we allow [patients] to be unsafe, but sometimes we can’t prevent inconvenience,” he said, adding women are sometimes kept waiting for delivery or recovery rooms. “We do go around and say I’m sorry, which I have had to learn to say in 51 languages.”
At Methodist, the biggest crunch comes after women have given birth. “We’re not throwing anybody out, [but] we’re trying to encourage people to go home as soon as they’re ready,” Silver said.
b” h klal yisroel should only have this kind of problems
Wow…Kein Yirba! You should see the new ward at Maimonidies. It is really comfortable and beautiful.
They are losing 1-4k per birth? I find that figure unbelievable.
its not only jewish births.. many of the births are asian, etc..
less than 30% are jewish
I am a proud Yiddishe Mommy who truly believes that giving birth at home should be the only way. Hospitals should be for patients only. Giving birth doesn’t make a person a Choleh, unless there is Chas V’Sholom a problem. This would solve all hospital bed problems. I am glad to say that I am a Yiddishe Mommy.
Perhaps it’s time for the community to open its own birthing center.
Will this be the solution to the Shidduch Crisis in 17 – 20 years from now?
Baruch Hashem and unfortunately just as many woman and more are still childless. There for lets daven for those woman in need. Lets hope that all the necessary neshomas will come down this year E”H & then the geula shlaima.
to # 6 – that is insane!
of course giving birth doesnt make one a “choleh” but there are many risk one takes when they give birth at home, Meconium is one such example, where in the hospital its no big deal – they can tell before and remove it immeidiately at birth but at home it can be Fatal! i dont have the exact count but about 1 in 10 births the baby swallows Meconium!
if you really are a proud mother think twice !
Sometimes waiting for a delivery is abnormal in Mamonidies you get your room when your almost delivering and then the room is empty of supplies because they don’t have the time to restock.
Having more homebirths would make things easier! And for those who are concerned, homebirth of a low-risk mother (that’s most of us) is just as safe as in the hospital in terms of mortality, with a lower rate of interventions. FYI meconium and “cord around the neck” are not emergencies. My latest (homebirth) baby had the cord around his neck twice – just unwrap it!
Get a trained midwife, who knows how to recognize emergencies before they become emergencies (that’s what hospitals are for – where to go in cases of true emergency). Save a fortune (midwives cost $2-$4 thousand, including all prenatal care, wheras hospitals charge $8,000 for the simplest natural birth with no pain medication). And best of all, avoid the 1/3 rate of C-sections, many of which are unnecessary! (The rate should be 10%)
#10 & #13 I couldn’t have set it better..in a split second there is so much that can go wrong; for her to say that it’s best to give birth at home is idiocy! Personally, it should be criminal to choose giving birth at home…
Getting there in 15 minutes and my daughter would have died.
Yes, this shayla has been brought to rabbonim many, many times. EVERY godol has paskinned that a woman in labor is a choleh, and it is absolutely mutar to be michallel Shabbos for her, etc. The Satmar Rov, ZY”U, ruled that the husband should even ride with her in the ambulance or car to the hospital, even if he is not driving, as long as she only “asks” him to. He felt that even “upsetting” or “frightening” a woman in labor was enough for it to be a mitzvah to be mechallel Shabbos for her.
Those familar with childbirth know that some complications may arise which really do need the facilities of a hospital.
That being said, for a multipara multigravida, who feels confident she can have yet another smooth delivery, there is nothing wrong with utilizing a “birthing center” which is well equipped, has trained staff, and has a good hospital association, with easy transfer to said hospital.
But, any woman who does not use a hospital who had trouble a previous time, or is a primipara or primigravida, first childbirth or first pregnancy, or has high blood pressure, or any other elevated-risked situation who does not go to the hospital is being irresponsible, and is putting THREE people at risk: she is putting her baby at risk, she is putting the mother of her baby at risk, and she is putting her husband’s wife at risk.
When I had my oldest 18 years ago, I read that a mom who was low risk still had a 1-2% chance of something going wrong. If it were YOUR baby on the line, would you want to risk?
I have a friend who did a home birth. She was low risk and everything seemed ideal. Well, her baby’s shoulder’s got stuck in the delivery. The midwife tried everything, but they couldn’t not get this little one out. The midwife rushed her to the hospital, but sadly, the baby died in route. This woman mourns her dead baby and blames herself. She has had 12 kids all together. Every single subsequent child was delivered in a hospital. She still, to this day, regrets her decision to deliver at home. IMHO, why put yourself in that risk? Yes, I guess home births can be better. But ask yourself, do you want to have to live with your decision for the rest of your life if Chas V’shalom you fall into that small 1-2% of something going wrong?
“AuthenticSatmar Says: They are losing 1-4k per birth? I find that figure unbelievable.”
There is something very fishy about that figure. Schneifer’s Hospital, a division of Long Island Jewish, has a shuttle service from Williamsburg for Maternity partients. They are actually looking for more birthing business. They are a top-grade hospital.
Obviously, they are making money on each birth, and they want to make even more.
So, the other hospitals who claim to be losing money are mismanaged.
I don’t understand why Maimonides doesn’t employ midwives for the overwhelming majority of normal low-risk births, with emergency back if anything is considered high-risk. That would cut the costs dramatically, without endangering the mother or child.
I suspect there is more than meets the eye here. These hospitals are not playing with a full deck.
CORRECTION TO COMMENT NO. 24:
The correct name for the Maternity division of Long Island Jewish Hospital is SCHNEIDER’S CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL.