Major New York hospital system bans birthing partners amid coronavirus pandemic
A major New York hospital system has banned the presence of birthing partners in the delivery room, amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, it recently revealed in a statement.
The move will also exclude partners of the pregnant individual - even mothers and fathers of the unborn child - from being present at the birth.
"At this time, no visitors including birthing partners and support persons are permitted for obstetric patients," NewYork-Presbyterian said on its website yesterday (March 23). "We understand that this will be difficult for our patients and their loved ones, but we believe that this is a necessary step to promote the safety of our new mothers and children."
NewYork-Presbyterian also wrote about the new changes to its visitor policy on Instagram:
"In light of the ongoing developments with the COVID-19 crisis, we continually evaluate the actions needed to help protect our staff and patients. At this time we are again modifying our visitation policy. With our focus on the best interests of our new mothers and children, we have made the decision not to permit visitors, including birthing partners and support persons, for our obstetric patients. We understand that this will be difficult for our patients and their loved ones, but we believe that this is a necessary step to promote patient safety."
Per CNN, Dr. Dena Goffman, chief of obstetrics at Columbia University Medical Center, confirmed the decision, saying: "For the time being, we really do need to exclude all visitors, including partners, for women admitted in labor."
The changes to NewYork-Presbyterian's visitor policy will go into effect on Monday, March 23, 2020, at 7:00 AM local time.
This comes after reports revealing that New York City is the epicenter of the most severe COVID-19 cases in the United States.
NewYork-Presbyterian is also testing every woman who goes into labor for COVID-19 even if they have shown no symptoms, CNN reports. It is hoped that this will prevent any potential carriers of the virus passing the disease on to their newborns.
"We recognize that we will need to provide additional support for moms, as well as mom and baby pairs, as they’re in the hospital through the duration of their stay," Goffman added.
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