Elimination Of Midwifery At Inwood Hospital Is 'Troubling': AG James

INWOOD, NY — The removal of midwife service at an Inwood hospital is a troubling "step in the wrong direction," said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a letter to hospital leaders Monday.

With her rebuke, James joined a swath of New Yorkers asking NewYork-Presbyterian's Allen Hospital to explain their rationale and reinstate the essential service.

"The decision to eliminate a midwifery program is both perplexing and troubling," James said in a letter addressed to NewYork-Presbyterian President Steven Corwin and board chair Jerry Speyer.

"I believe that the elimination of Allen’s midwifery program is a step in the wrong direction and would strongly urge you to reconsider this decision and look instead at expanding the program," James said.

Hospital officials and nurses confirmed in January that Allen Hospital's existing midwifery services would discontinue in March, a decision nurses and electeds said was hasty, poorly justified and sure to leave vulnerable patients without adequate care.

A representative of NewYork-Presbyterian said, come March, Allen Hospital's perinatal care teams would continue to include midwives managed and employed by Columbia.

Affected employees in Allen's existing midwifery program — which has been around for over 50 years and includes six midwives and one nurse practitioner — would have the opportunity to take on different roles with NewYork-Presbyterian, the representative said.

A representative of New York-Presbyterian Hospitals told Patch earlier in January the hospital was evolving its perinatal care model — and that changes were intended to increase patients' access to better care and high-quality clinicians.

In the "midst of a maternal health crisis" in New York, midwifery services are a lifeline to Black and brown mothers who find themselves at increased risk during birth, James said.

"Ending midwifery services at Allen can only serve to exacerbate those already glaring disparities," James said.

"A significant body of research demonstrates that the broad expansion of midwifery services may be the single best tool we have to combat maternal and infant mortality in our most vulnerable communities."

And, Allen Hospital's program has served as a promising refuge from a long history of delegitimization and elimination of midwifery in the American healthcare system, James said.

James on Monday requested the hospital send her office evidence of a thorough evaluation and — as is her duty to evaluate whether directors of charitable institutions "have exercised their fiduciary duties appropriately," James said.

This article was edited at 3:45 p.m. to reflect new information from NewYork-Presbyterian.