No OB-GYNs left in town: what came after Idaho's assault on abortion

[moonshinegnomie]

the hospital shut its OB-GYN department because it couldnt find doctors to work there. in their words. Highly respected, talented physicians are leaving. Recruiting replacements will be extraordinarily difficult,” the hospital noted. “In addition, the Idaho legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for medical care nationally recognized as standard of care.”


any private ob-gyns have also left the area

i wouldnt blame every OB-GYN in red states if they packed up and left town. let the stat elegistlators start providing the care since they seem to be medical experts....

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/22/abortion-idaho-women-rights-healthcare

[Wounded Bear]

1. Anybody who is surprised has not been paying attention...

The RW anti-science, anti-women stance is reaching its fruition.

[Farmer-Rick]

4. Don't forget the sprinkling of superstitious religious nonsense

Because only they know what god thinks and they think, god thinks, forced birth is A OK. They think, their God thinks, abusing women and taking away their free will is moral.

Of course it doesn't say anything like that in the Bible they think is written by their god. But when you are making up crap to support abuse, god always remains silent.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Indeed! nt

[patphil]

14. They've decided what God thinks, and, surprise, it's exactly what they think.

These are a bunch of Godless assholes playing God with the people who live in their states.
Their edicts and laws have nothing to do with God, and everything to do with Satan.
Even if you don't believe in either of those beings, you can take it as energies that represent the best of humanity, and the worst of humanity.

[ZonkerHarris]

30. they think Jesus is a weak wuss now.

[Freddie]

2. Watch women and babies die in attempted home births

How very pro-life.

[OAITW r.2.0]

12. Then the woman will get charged with homicide.

[Lonestarblue]

33. That's why Idaho Republicans decided that the state will no longer publish maternal deaths.

They don’t want people to see what their stupid policies are doing to women, and to healthcare overall that actually affects everyone.

[MontanaMama]

3. It's not only OB-GYN's that are leaving.

Many in the medical profession are married to other medical professionals…doctors, PA’s, nurses and nurse practitioners. I personally know a couple who were offered jobs at the hospital in Sandpoint, Idaho straight out of their medical residencies at WA State. She is an OB-GYN and he is an emergency medicine specialist. They originally accepted the positions but once the Dobbs decision took down Roe and Idaho passed their crazy ass abortion laws, both physicians resigned their positions. They’re not alone.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Yep! When doctors leave, they take their families with them...

and if their spouse is also a doctor, which I assume is fairly common, the state/community loses doctors in other disciplines as well.

[Hugin]

8. Along with that, the State's economy crashes...

Medical care is a substantial contribution to an economy.

Which, of course, they'll try to blame on the Democrats.

[Beartracks]

36. Enact agenda. Devastate health, education, economy. Blame Democrats.

It's the Republican way.

=========

[moonshinegnomie]

7. good for them

they made the right choice

[erronis]

22. And it is the whole anti-science climate too. This will affect other professions too.

No intelligent person wants to live and raise a family in a state that prides itself on how many knuckle-draggers it has and how many guns.

[RAB910]

9. It's not "Idaho's" assualt, it's the "Idaho GOP's assault"

I hate misleading headlines that give the GOP a free pass

[Sky Jewels]

10. But Idaho voters overwhelmingly support the GQP.

There is a percentage of Idahoans that are victims (they vote Dem, or they're too young to vote), but the vast majority of adult voters in that state (roughly 3 out of 4) have brought this shit show on themselves.

[RAB910]

11. Do you appreciate the propaganda value the MSM sees in assigning blame for bad things to states

Rather than the evil GOP?

[Sky Jewels]

16. Yeah, it would be better if they said "the Idaho Republicans' assault on abortion rights."

The vast majority of Idahoan adults, however, do seem to be gluttons for punishment and fascism.

[calimary]

39. Well, I'm sorry, but if they continue to vote that way, the blame is in them.

Squarely on them.

Keep voting the same way but expecting a different result? We all know what that is.

[Sky Jewels]

42. I know.

The only ones I feel sorry for are the kids/teens and the Dems (probably a lot of them are stuck there due to family obligations, etc.). The rest of them deserve everything bad that comes their way.

[OAITW r.2.0]

13. It's like polling Congress's favorability,

They never breakout the favorability by Party affiliation.

[Sky Jewels]

15. Prediction: A lot of multiple-sibling families will become motherless.

There are a ton of Mormon and other breed-like-bunnies extremist religious sects in Idaho. Many women start popping out babies early, and keep on going into their 40s. That provides A LOT of opportunities for pregnancies and births to go south. Many of these people live in rural areas with little access to health care anyway. Without OB/Gyns they will be screwn. When complications occur, Mom will die, leaving dad with six or eight or ten or more kids. Then most of these men will remarry some poor young woman within a few months so she can be the household servant/childcare giver.

That state is a nightmare.

[DBoon]

19. "That state is a nightmare"

That state is called Gilead.

[forgotmylogin]

25. I wonder if that was one of the original strategies for polygamy...

Back before modern healthcare, having a baby was probably one of the more risky and dangerous things someone could attempt. I've heard it said that polygamy was a response to fewer men surviving in the populace back in pioneer days and their solution to "be fruitful and multiply" was to carpet-bet the roulette table. So if you've got a houseful of spouses and one tragically dies in childbirth it's not an abrupt end to a burgeoning family tree.

(Bluntness, but no disrespect to anyone who practices polygamy nor contemporary (non-fundamental) Mormons who are very nice people.)

[Unwind Your Mind]

27. The church arranged a lot of marriages

My great grandfather died before my grandfather was born. Leaving his mother with three small children. She was remarried quickly and had another daughter within two years of Grandpa’s birth.

[multigraincracker]

17. Michigan has put out

the
Welcome sign.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

18. ROE YOUR VOTE! And tell somebody.

[republianmushroom]

20. They are reaping what they have sown.

[MOMFUDSKI]

21. Sand Point is as skinhead as it gets.

Joke is: Where men are men and the women are too. They will be just fine.

[no_hypocrisy]

23. So essentially, if you're pregnant and live in Idaho,

you have to leave the state if you want to get an abortion, give birth, and/or get a PAP smear.

Nice work!

[maxsolomon]

28. Abortion, definitely

the others, no.

For N. Idaho residents, there is still a hospital in Couer D'Alene.

If you're in the South part, there are hospitals in Boise.

[AllyCat]

53. What about postpartum care?

Hemorrhaging, preeclampsia up to 6 weeks after delivery, incision complications, mastitis…to name a few.

[maxsolomon]

54. IDK

I am not on the staff of the hospital in Sandpoint or Couer D'Alene.

[AllyCat]

55. Guess that's what I'm saying. No specialist on staff at Sandpoint to

deal with any of these all-to-common complications. So if the pregnant person goes to a better staffed hospital, the returns home and falls ill, how do they get emergency care locally?

This is a disaster. We already don’t have enough care in rural areas.

[lindysalsagal]

24. Fundamentalists probably don't need docs: If they die in childbirth, it was gaawd's will

Science is the devil.

They probably don't need any doctors, schools, teachers, airline pilots, plumbers, mechanics or any technology.

So, just pull down all their TV/Radio/internet towers, confiscate the mobile phones and any other item that requires science.

It's gawd's will.

[TeamProg]

26. Abortion is a MEDICAL PROCEDURE - that is why they aren't legally performed by priests, rabbis,

politicians, school administrators, lawyers or anyone without a medical degree.

Abortion is a MEDICAL PROCEDURE.

[BradBo]

29. Idahos turning into a shitty place to live for young family's.....

…blacks, Asians, Hispanics, gays, trans, democrats, the middle of the road politically, and women in general.

[PortTack]

31. What did they think would happen??!! Good gawd!

[hunter]

32. It may also be a hostile environment for medical professionals who are immigrants and/or not white.

That will further limit their access to good health care.

[moniss]

34. An under reported aspect about this

is the conundrum these state laws tie doctors into. As noted their training and medical practice has recognized protocols and standards of care for various patient scenarios. If a patient has a negative turn in their health/case and the doctor did not provide care according to their training etc. they can face huge malpractice claims. Having a claims history can not only effect their premiums/insurable status but it can also have negative impacts on employability, research participation, career development etc. so the only reasonable response for them is to leave that state.

[ShazzieB]

43. Oh, that's a VERY good point!

I didn't think of the insurance aspect, but that makes a ton of sense!

Laws like the ones in Idaho are made by people who know next to nothing about women's health and don't think they need to, because pregnancy and childbirth are "natural" and women's bodies were "designed by God" for childbearing. /s

[moniss]

47. I also have no doubt that if we found a videotape

of the legislative debate we would find the female legislators arguing against the bills getting interrupted after a half sentence or so. This is an example about what happens in the Supreme Court.

[Delmette2.0]

49. Go to Youtube and like this. Only 32 people have.

Women get no respect at all levels of achievement.

[Warpy]

35. I can't blame the docs, it sucks when religion tries to introde into medicine

because religion is as unqualified to do so as it was 1000 years ago.

I suspect the next stupid bills they pass will criminalize any doc who informs a patient of life threatening complications like ectopic pregnancies. The religious patriarchs will think it a woman's duty to double over with pain, bleed out, and be found dead on the kitchen floor.

I'm afraid Idaho might be one of the first states to find out the good old days were really, really bad.

[Snackshack]

37. The entire

Healthcare apparatus should leave not just OBGYN's... everyone.

Because you can talk until you have used all the O2 in the atmosphere to one of these idiots and it does no good. This would absolutely really hurt the people living there who do not want to move or can't (if needed certainly Dems across the country would come together to try to make their pain as small as possible) but unless and until the gop and their base understand the real world impacts of their continued assault on healthcare, this will not stop.

[Midnight Writer]

38. Can you imagine being a doctor with a patient in distress that you can save with a simple procedure

and being afraid to act because you may go to prison?

[barbtries]

41. no.

it's an impossible quandary. I expect that's why the doctors are leaving rather than staying and trying to provide the best care they can within the law. It's massively unfair to the medical profession not to mention women.

[barbtries]

40. i was just strolling through Sandpoint earlier this month.

My sister lives nearby with my niece (sister has Alzheimers). It was a fabulous vacation. I got to meet almost all of her children and grandchildren for the first time or the first time in years. Of 4 children, only the oldest and only son, is liberal. She and all of her daughters are "conservative." When we went to the home of her youngest daughter, who has 2 girls and a boy, on their porch was the 3-year-old trump pence 2020 sign.

We just didn't talk politics. When I left I facetiously asked her to move all her family to NC so we could be together more often and she responded why don't you move to Idaho? We just laughed. But as much as I loved my time there and with all the children and my sister and my niece, I knew and know that Idaho is no place for me. NC is hard enough.

She has 3 daughters, 4 granddaughters. No abortion rights for any of them, and now no OB/GYN. Fortunately i THINK they're probably done having kids.

[Arazi]

45. OB/Gynecologists do more than maternity care

[barbtries]

46. yes they do.

My guess is my relatives will go to Spokane for their health care. That's assuming they all have health insurance. Idaho I believe does not have Obamacare either.

[central scrutinizer]

44. Give a state legislator a speculum

What could go wrong?

[tblue37]

48. The whole situation makes me want to chew nails and spit carpet tacks!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

50. kick

[BlueSpot]

51. I don't know what the average age of women is in Idaho but

Just wait until a big group of them hit menopause!

I'm pretty sure that will make the news.

[AllyCat]

52. Leaving families and pregnant people with no options for safe

gynecological care or OB care. So many things happen both pre- and post-pregnancy that even women traveling for care may find themselves in emergency situations when they return home. And no one with specialized training to care for them.

This is what happens when we let old white guys practice medicine without a license.

[Mysterian]

56. Right wingers hate women and see them as objects

and don't care about their medical care.