Law named for lost son of pol targets preg woe
ALBANY — New York is strengthening protections for expectant mothers who go into “preterm labor,” ensuring hospitals provide care to women with high-risk pregnancies, especially minorities.
The Jonah Bichotte Cowan Act signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Cuomo is named for the late son of Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Brooklyn), who died just hours after being born premature in 2016.
Bichotte was just five months pregnant at the time and had been sent home from New York-Presbyterian Hospital Columbia days earlier after experiencing “preterm labor.”
The new law requires hospitals to admit mothers in similar situations for monitoring instead of releasing them or refusing treatment.
Bichotte said disparities in maternal care based on race are a major problem, even in places like New York.
“Black infants are more than twice as likely to die from premature birth than babies of other races,” she said. “Unfortunately, I have experienced that disparity firsthand when I lost my own son,
Jonah, after being turned away from a hospital in an incredibly high-risk situation.”
The new law requires hospitals to develop protocols in line with already existing federal and state requirements for “admitting, diagnosing and treating expectant mothers experiencing an emergency medical condition.”
Information must also be handed out to patients about preterm labor and premature birth at prebooking and prenatal care visits.
“We must guarantee our health care system looks out for all expecting mothers and provides for their safety and the safety of their newborn,” Cuomo said. “It’s no secret that disparities exist within the health care system, and now New York is taking a real, meaningful step toward making it more fair, supportive and equitable.”