Nurses simulate treating a newborn infant during a training exercise in the Whitfield obstetrical unit. The hospital is pausing its OB services through Sept. 1.
Nurses simulate treating a newborn infant during a training exercise in the Whitfield obstetrical unit. The hospital is pausing its OB services through Sept. 1.
Whitfield Regional Hospital in Demopolis will pause its obstetrical services through Sept. 1, the hospital announced today.
Dr. Eric Lessmann, the primary physician who staffs Whitfield’s labor and delivery unit, will be on leave until Sept. 1, and no replacement physicians are available to provide around-the-clock coverage, according to the hospital’s statement.
“We have plans to ensure that patients who present to the hospital with an emergency medical condition related to pregnancy and/or obstetric care will continue to be examined and receive stabilizing treatment and transferred if necessary,” the statement reads.
Whitfield CEO Doug Brewer told the Black Belt News Network they have hired a new OB physician who starts Sept. 1.
Lessmann will complete planned cesarean sections for his established patients who are at least 32 weeks into their pregnancy, and he will continue to provide prenatal care during the OB program pause, according to the statement.
Whitfield Regional Hospital and Vaughan Regional Medical Center in Selma are the only two hospitals in the western half of the Black Belt that offered obstetrical services. DCH Health System operates two hospitals in Tuscaloosa County that offer obstetrical services.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
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