Physicians Work to Keep Mt. Diablo Medical Center Obstetrics Unit Open

A group of doctors at Mt. Diablo Medical Center plans to launch an initiative to protest the transfer of "key programs," such as obstetrics, to John Muir Medical Center, the hospital's corporate partner, the Contra Costa Times reports. Calling themselves the Committee to Keep Mt. Diablo Hospital Open, the nine doctors plan to collect signatures for a "nonbinding" ballot measure expressing disapproval of the hospital's announcement last month that it would consider closing the obstetrics department. Dr. John Toth, a physician at Mt. Diablo, said, "Closing key departments like obstetrics and gynecology at Mt. Diablo, while expanding service at John Muir, is a violation of the public trust." But the Times reports that the initiative "may be presumptuous" because the John Muir/Diablo Health System board has voted to keep the obstetrics department at Mt. Diablo open "for now" (Ashley, Contra Costa Times, 6/8). On May 30, after they voted to maintain the obstetrics unit, board members said that Mt. Diablo's "financial troubles" can be relieved if the unit "receive[s] adequate support to market the program and attract more doctors." Board member Ronald Leone said, "[I]t's going to take a fairly aggressive plan to increase patient volumes and cut costs, and it's going to take a commitment by the board to give it some time. This is not a situation that can be turned around in a month or two." The Times reports that the move is "less a full rescue" of the unit than it is "a lifeline offering it a final chance to turn around its financial picture" (Ashley, Contra Costa Times, 6/1).