10/01/2016
Hi Everyone,
First, I want to say thank you to all the people who have liked this page and who have expressed support for me since the closing of the MSU Women’s Healthcare clinic was announced. Leaving behind so many wonderful patients, about whom I care deeply, has been the hardest part of this ordeal. Whether it is working with you through the joys and challenges of pregnancy and childbirth, helping you confront and deal with difficult medical problems, or catching up during routine preventative care, I am honored that you have chosen me to share important milestones in your life. I have many patients who have followed me from practice to practice, and others brand new who sought me out after being disillusioned by other providers who were not willing or able to hear their values and priorities. All of you are special to me, and I’m sorry these circumstances have interrupted your care.
Next, I want to let you know what happened. I have an eclectic group of patients, perhaps because I have a commitment to serve underserved populations, and perhaps because I believe in allowing patients to chart their own course, whether or not it’s the course I would have charted for myself. In short, I don’t have an agenda when it comes to patient care, other than to make sure patients understand their choices, get great medical care when they need it, and have the best outcome possible. Some of the underserved populations I have served over the course of many years have included Medicaid patients (many practices will not accept them), le***an patients, and transgender patients. In addition, through collegial relationships with midwives, I serve patients who may be considering or planning a homebirth, or who want to work with a midwife, or deliver their baby with less intervention, and so on, but who also want access to medical care if and when they need it.
At Sparrow Hospital, there has been a growing tension between my practice style and the prevailing practice style there; mine is less interventional, and frankly, more in keeping with modern ACOG guidelines, resulting in a 9-10% C-Section rate, while the prevailing style at Sparrow has led to unacceptably high (30-40%) C-Section rates, and is very interventional in cases where, in my opinion, it is not medically indicated. The attitude towards midwife patients at Sparrow is also troubling. Most doctors there do not want to accept transfers of midwife patients when medically necessary, and don’t want to have any conversation or collaboration with midwives. They are more concerned with their own speculative legal liability than with the health of the mother and baby who have chosen an out of hospital birth. Their attitudes are driving more and more women to have home births, and while I support a woman’s choice to have a homebirth, as a doctor (who admittedly only does hospital births – except for my own kids) I know that homebirth is not for everyone, and is not good for every patient. This difference in philosophy, and my willingness to stand up for other women physicians who were being mistreated, made me a target at Sparrow.
Meanwhile, I had returned to MSU after my practice at MMP had been sold to McLaren. Rather than go work for Sparrow, as my partners did, I chose MSU in the hopes that the University environment would be more in keeping with my inclusive philosophy, and feminist ideals. I could not have been more wrong. Not long after I arrived, MSU directed me to stop serving le***an patients seeking to be inseminated in order to have children. MSU continued to provide this service for heterosexual couples in their Grand Rapids office. As time went on, it became clear that the environment at MSU was not friendly to women, despite the fact that it has a woman president. (Just Google “MSU women’s rights” and you will see a disturbing pattern emerging). Then, this past June, they closed the ob/gyn clinic with little warning, again demonstrating that they care little about the women in their community. The notice amounted to around 6 weeks, when in this industry it should be understood that anything less than 6 months’ notice is just unconscionable. Many patients had nowhere to go. While the providers who were left were able to get MSU to extend care to obstetrics patients in their last trimester beyond the June 30 closing date, others were out of luck.
I had to face a difficult choice between trying to continue working in an environment that was not healthy for me, or seeking another setting. I also increasingly had the sense that continuing to practice at Sparrow would lend my endorsement to a hospital to which I no longer felt comfortable sending my obstetrics patients. After doing some soul searching, internet searching, and networking with friends, including midwives, I found a practice environment that seems like a good fit. I have begun to help them out through a “locum tenens” agency (temp agency for doctors), which gives me a chance to test the waters without committing long term. I have covered call for two weekends, and it was a great experience. We are discussing having me work some office hours as well. I am not able to work out there anywhere near a full time schedule due to the distance, and the need for me to be around the Lansing area for my kids.
Here are the details concerning the practice I am working with:
Ge**er Memorial Hospital OB-GYN
212 S. Sullivan Ave.
Fremont, MI 49412
This is a two-hour drive from East Lansing, and for that I am sorry. I wish I could have found a way to accommodate my Lansing area patients. Maybe someday. I will keep you posted of any new developments.
Please keep in touch and feel free to contact me if you have questions! Again, if you want the message to be private, use the "send message" button to send me a direct message. Otherwise everyone will be able to see it. Thanks for supporting and “Liking” my page!
