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no room in obstetricsSt. Boniface suggestion trying Victoria, MisericordiaBy Maureen Brosnahan and Glen MacKetizieA Transcona family physician sayshe has been told to refer his maternity patients to Victoria and Misericordia hospitals rather than send them to St. Boniface General Hospital where he has admitting privileges.Dr. David Marsh, who also delivered babies at the Concordia Hospital before its obstetrics unit was closed last weekend, said he was notified by St. Boniface earlier this week to refer his patients to the other hospitals because its beds may be full. 'Family inconvenienceMarsh, who has practised for 20 years and with a partner delivers about 100 babies a year, said yesterday he's “about to blow his top.”“It’s not a question of going to another hospital. It’s the distance and the inconvenience for the family.”Marsh said his patients have taken pre-natal classes at St. Boniface and parents have been geared to having their babies there. Many are also familiar and comfortable at the hospital, he said.“To be told there's no room at St. Boniface... is a disgrace,” he said. 1 think it’s the hospital’s responsibility to provide a bed for my patient, They’re putting the onus on me to direct my patients to another hospital.”Marsh blames the situation on the government’s decision to close the obstetrics units at Concordia and Seven Oaks hospitals and eventually centralize obstetrics services at St. Boniface Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.He said he spoke with his ML A, Wilson Parasiuk, (NDP—Transcona) to complain about the situation, but has not yet had a response.Parasiuk said yesterday he talked to Marsh late Monday afternoon and expected to raise the matter with Health Minister Larry Desjardins today.Marsh said he has had hospital privileges at St. Boniface for severalyears, but only used the hospital for his high-risk deliveries. He Said last spring when the decision was made to close Concordia, ail doctors were granted admission privileges at St. Boniface. He said many doctors at Concordia had anticipated overcrowding at St. Boniface. They had offered the alternative of keeping Concordia open and having St. Boniface send their low-risk deliveries to Concordia, leaving the largecentre to deal strickly with high riskpatients, but St. Boniface objected to the proposal.Dr. Ronald Livingstone, head of St. Boniface Hospital’s obstetrics unit, said yesterday physicians were notified that the discovery of a virus which killed a baby at the hospital during the summer had delayed expansion of the maternity unit by a month.He said the extra units should be completely in place by the end of November, not the end of October as originally planned.Marsh said the decision to close the units at Concordia and Seven Oaks was poorly planned. “I just think the whole thing has been mishandled“The only answer would be to reverse the decision,” he said.Marsh said the recent new policy at St, Boniface to discharge new mothers from hospital within 48 hours is not good medicine, “I think if 1 was a lady .having my first baby and I was sent home and my breasts were sore... I’d be a little Uptight,” he said.“There’s no reason they would do this (early discharge) unless there was overcrowding.”Unknown virusnDr. Henry Dirks,. head of family medicine at Concordia Hospital, said he agreed with Marsh’s statements.Dirks said the whole problem could have been prevented if the government had waited until expanded units were set up at other hospitals before closing down Seven Oaks and Concordia’s units.Marsh said it appears more than coincidence that both major obstetrics centres at, St. Boniface Hospital and Health Sciences Centre have had serious problems involving the health of infants in their nurseries in the past few months since the centralization plan was announced.Last week a healthy baby died mysteriously at Health Sciences Centre and two other healthy babies became ill. The matter is being investigated by local and federal authorities.This summer an unknown virus killed one baby at St. Boniface Hospital and left 19 others ill.The incidents illustrate that in large centres where so many people come and go, infection control can be difficult to maintain, Marsh said.Livingston disputed Marsh’s suggestion the death of the St. Boniface hospital baby and illnesses involving others there and at Health Sciences Centre were caused by overcrowding.HCS expands probeinto death of infantBy Cecil RosnerThe Health Sciences Centre is expanding its investigation into the mysterious death of one baby and illness of two others by contacting all mothers who have given birth at the centrebecame ill has improved and it willlikely be released today, Swerhone said. The second infant remains in critical but stable condition.As of yesterday, only 17 babies remained in the third floor nurserv.
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Wed, Oct 05, 1983
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Jay F.
CA 28 Jul 2020
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