Claassen opts out of delivery
Staff writer
Hillsboro Community Medical Center's (HCMC) decision not to provide baby deliveries any more was a mutual decision.
According to Dr. Randal Claassen, of Preferred Medical Associates, he and the hospital agreed that delivering babies was not feasible anymore for either of them.
New guidelines from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology require that a hospital be able to provide a cesarean within 30 minutes. This requirement put HCMC out of compliance. Anesthesia for such an operation is an hour away, according to Claassen.
HCMC was down to only one part-time obstetric nurse.
"It was a negative to try to keep doing it," said Claassen.
The change was also precipitated by the fact that HCMC and Claassen were delivering fewer than 20 babies a year.
HCMC couldn't offer an epidural as a pain relieve option, and according to Dr. Claassen, its unavailability was a deterrent.
Claassen was the only doctor in the county who offered obstetric services. He says he was one of the last family practitioners to stop delivering.
He still plans to offer pre-natal, newborn, and pediatric care.
According to Claassen, St. Luke Hospital in Marion stopped delivering babies this year for the same reasons.
"It was time," he said.
