Bluffton Regional to cease childbirth services
Pregnant women wishing to deliver their child at Bluffton Regional Medical Center have until this Thursday to do so according to an announcement made recently by the Lutheran Health Network.
The network, which operates several hospitals in northeastern Indiana including BRMC, noted that as of May 23, the Bluffton location will no longer offer obstetrical services in Wells County noting that location is only averaging 11 or fewer births per month. Lutheran Health Network also reported they will also no longer be delivering children at Dukes Memorial Hospital in Peru (Miami County) which they operate as well.
Dukes was averaging only about five deliveries per month and their OB care will end on June 13. Officials said their analysis of obstetrical care showed that the number of births at both Bluffton and Peru were expected to continue on a downward trend thus leading to their decision.
The decision announced Monday continues a trend of hospitals stopping obstetrical care. Within the past year, DeKalb Memorial Hospital in Auburn and ParkviewWabash Hospital in Wabash have seen OB care fall by the wayside. Other area hospitals that have discontinued obstetrics include Blackford County Hospital in Hartford City, ParkviewWhitley Hospital in Columbia City, and Parkview-LaGrange Hospital in LaGrange.
The majority of children born at a Lutheran Health Network-owned facility comes at DuPont Hospital and Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne while Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne also delivers a large number of children. Lutheran says the hospitals are working to address the medical needs of obstetrics patients, especially those with co-morbidities like diabetes and high-risk pregnancies. Personnel who staff both hospitals’ childbirth units and obstetric practices will have the opportunity to transfer to other positions in the Lutheran Health Network.
The move to cease operations in Bluffton and Peru is completely opposite as to what is occurring in Adams County where the Adams Memorial Hospital is not only emphasizing obstetrical care
with its OB-Newborn Clinic, but they are projecting to deliver 275 babies (nearly 23 per month) by the end of 2024. The Clinic offers special hours on Saturday where both the mother and child can come in at the same time for postpartum visits and follow-ups.
The majority of new family practice doctors hired at Adams Hospital in the past several years also include maternity care in the services they provide and they rotate on-call time in the OB-Newborn Clinic. The clinic also provides the services of two highly-trained, certified midwives for the mothers-to-be, while an OB/GYN surgeon has also been added to the AMH staff.