| Releases
& Statements
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 1, 2007
Contact: John Collins, Press Secretary
(212) 669-4193; (917) 496-4587
Release #: 020-2007
Public
Advocate Gotbaum: City Hospitals Finally Prepare Maternity Information
- Five of 44 Hospitals Still Fail to Provide Legally-Mandated
Birth Information -
MANHATTAN
– City hospitals have finally prepared legally-mandated
maternity information for expectant mothers, Public Advocate Gotbaum
announced today. According to a new analysis, 39 of 44 hospitals
that offer labor and delivery services have made pamphlets with
C-section delivery rates and other birthing statistics available,
as required by the New York State Maternity Information Act (MIA).
Five hospitals still fail to provide the legally-mandated information.
In
2005 and 2006, Public Advocate Gotbaum released two reports that
showed that none of the hospitals distributed the required information.
For the past six months, Public Advocate Gotbaum has been working
with hospitals to make this information available.
Public
Advocate Gotbaum said, “For too long, hospitals did not
distribute the information expectant mothers needed to make safe,
informed decisions. That is now changing. Hospitals have prepared
pamphlets with information expectant mothers can use to make healthy
decisions for themselves and their families.”
Hospitals
are required to provide expectant mothers and the general public
with pamphlets describing C-sections and other birthing procedures,
including labor inductions and episiotomies, and information about
the rates at which each of these procedures is performed. Expectant
mothers and families can use the information to decide in which
hospital they would like to give birth.
“We
are so pleased by the response by the majority of New York City
hospitals,” said Elan McAllister, President of consumer
advocacy group Choices in Childbirth. “This information
is critical to pregnant women, and we now need hospitals to distribute
the pamphlets to all prospective maternity care patients who enter
their facility.”
In
spite of the progress, five hospitals still fail to provide maternity
information pamphlets:
1. New York University Medical Center; (provided on 5/17/07)
2. St. John's Queens Hospital;
3. Brooklyn Hospital Center; (provided on 5/17/07)
4. University Hospital of Brooklyn; and (provided on 5/17/07)
5. Victory Memorial Hospital. (provided on 5/17/07)
Maureen
Corry, MPH, Executive Director of Childbirth Connection, said,
“This is good news for pregnant women in New York City.
They finally have access to hospital-specific data on birth outcomes
that they can use to decide on where to give birth. I hope this
will be a wake-up call to the last five hold-out hospitals.”
In
addition to providing the required pamphlets, Public Advocate
Gotbaum has called on both the State Department of Health and
the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to make
C-section information and all other required birthing statistics
accessible on their respective websites.
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