❗Let's close the gap: We still need your help to raise $40,000 by April 1. Donate now

Hospital closure leaves soon-to-be mothers in rural Missouri without an OB-GYN

Bram Sable-Smith Jul 16, 2018
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Hospital closure leaves soon-to-be mothers in rural Missouri without an OB-GYN

Bram Sable-Smith Jul 16, 2018
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Another rural hospital has closed, the 85th to shutter in the U.S. since 2010. This latest closing happened in Dunklin County, Missouri, one of the poorest counties in the state. The hospital was home to the only OB-GYN physician in a region that has one of the highest premature birth and infant mortality rates in the state. Pregnant women there will now have to drive over an hour on winding rural highways to deliver their babies. The only hope to keep obstetrics in the area now rests with the hospital one county over, which closed its OB unit four years ago when that hospital nearly went bankrupt itself.

Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.