Citing “medical staff issues beyond the hospital's control,” Logan Memorial Hospital CEO Greg Moore announced Wednesday that the hospital will discontinue obstetric services on December 23 at midnight.
The decision to close the OB unit came about after the county's newest obstetrician/gynecologist, Dr. Robert Halterman, unexpectedly closed his practice Tuesday, having notified the hospital on Monday. Halterman had only been practicing in Logan County since November.
The other OB/GYN in the county is Dr. Sanjay Tandon who submitted his resignation earlier in the year and is leaving on December 24. Both doctors have chosen to move outside of the community.
“We have invested significant dollars over the past several years in the attempt to recruit and retain qualified obstetricians to this community, and have not been successful,” Moore said.
The sudden absence of OB doctors in the county and closing of the OB unit have left some pregnant women in the county scrambling to find medical care as their due dates approach.
“I have been calling all day trying to find a OB/GYN who will take me on as their patient,” said Chaka Graham. “I am due in February and am considered a high-risk pregnancy. I am so afraid of what is going to happen.”
Graham said doctors she spoke with in Bowling Green did not want to take her because she is high risk and so close to her due date. One doctor who has been practicing for only a year agreed to take her.
“Being high risk I really would like a doctor who has more experience, but I may not have a choice now,” Graham said.
Michelle Mitchell, director of business management at the hospital, said hospital administrators are working to notify patients about their options for care, including physicians and hospitals. Most will probably go to either Bowling Green or Springfield, Tenn.
But traveling so far for prenatal care and delivery is not the ideal choice for many local women.
“This will be my sixth child. My husband works nights and we live at least 40 minutes from Bowling Green,” Graham said. “I am afraid that if my water breaks at home I won't make it to Bowling Green to a hospital in time and that is one of the reasons I chose to go to a OB/GYN in Logan County and had planned on having my baby at Logan Memorial.”
Graham and others say they want to know what is going on with the hospital and why it is so hard to keep an OB/GYN.
“When I was pregnant with my fifth child I saw Dr. Mark Siletchnik who mysteriously closed up as well,” Graham said. She was a new patient of Dr. Tandon's when she found out he was going to leave.
“I think after learning about Tandon leaving I was most concerned about what I was going to do so I didn't really press the issue,” Graham said.
“When I learned about Dr. Robert Halterman coming I breathed a sigh of relief,” she added. “His specialization in difficult deliveries and it made me feel more comfortable despite what had previously happened.”
“Imagine my surprise when I called to confirm my appointment and was told Dr. Halterman was no longer seeing any patients,” Graham said. “I was unbelievably shocked. I was right back in the same shape not knowing what I was going to do.”
Graham said she is angry and wants some answers and would like to know what will happen next.
“It's all very much up in the air,” Mitchell said Tuesday regarding the future of the OB unit at the hospital. The Birthing Center at Logan Memorial was renovated about four years ago and offered spacious private rooms and more one-on-one care than is found at larger hospitals.
“We've invested a lot of dollars over the years to make the Birthing Center the best it can be,” Mitchell said. “We never want to take a service away. We want to provide the best quality of care for Logan County.”
However, finding a doctor who is committed to the community is a challenge and hospital administrators are not sure if it will be possible to reopen the OB unit anytime soon.
Eight people are employed in the OB department and Mitchell said they are working with those employees to find other employment options, ideally within the hospital family.
Attempts to reach Dr. Tandon and Dr. Halterman for comments on the reasons for their departures were unsuccessful.
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