Frick Hospital to re-evaluate obstetrics unit
Despite rumors that the obstetrics unit at Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant is closing in several months, hospital officials said Thursday that no definite decision has been made. A prepared statement from David S. Gallitin, acting CEO for Westmoreland Heath System, points to the resignation of one of the hospital’s two obstetrician-gynecologists as a reason to re-evaluate obstetric service at the hospital. Gallatin said a definite decision will not be made until the board of trustees meets next month.
“All efforts to date to recruit another obstetrician to the Mount Pleasant-Scottdale area have been in vain,” said Gallatin. “The demonstrated inability to attract new physicians to this specialty will be a key factor in the decision-making process.”
The statement said the resignation, which occurred last week, came in the wake of the “unresolved crisis of medical liability insurance and skyrocketing premiums.”
If the Frick obstetrics unit closes, deliveries will have to take place at Westmoreland Regional Hospital.
Patients would be able to continue with office visits with their local obstetrician, have any necessary diagnostic testing done at Frick, but the delivery would be at Westmoreland Regional in Greensburg, 20 miles away. Gallatin’s statement also assured that women in the immediate service area of Frick Hospital would be able to continue with things related to their prenatal care “uninterrupted.”