The Deflection Policy at UCI Medical Center

The recently instituted deflection program at UCI Medical Center has engendered heated debates, sometimes degenerating into unsubstantiated accusations and recriminations.

As residents in obstetrics and gynecology, we have experienced the consequences of the enormous increase in the volume of deliveries. In a unit built to safely handle 250 deliveries per month, we have over the years seen this number climb steadily to as high as 550 deliveries per month. It has become an all-too-familiar scene to have women laboring and delivering in hallways and on gurneys. This is not only unsafe and unacceptable, but also degrading and dehumanizing to the patients seeking care.

The media have unfortunately seized the financial aspect of the deflection decision and have chosen to ignore the most important facet of the deflection program--to continue providing an outstanding and safe level of care. Every patient who has not received prenatal care at UCIMC, be she funded or unfunded, will be turned away once we reach full status. Our own patients will be admitted in all situations. The receiving care as evidenced by the fact that, since its inception, the medical center has almost single-handedly shouldered the burden of indigent care for the inhabitants of the county. It is indeed hypocritical and ironic for private hospital administrators around Orange County to preach morality and insinuate impropriety when for years they have ignored our pleas for help.

Orange County, one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, has a growing number of working poor who cannot afford the medical care they need. Every civilized society has a humane and moral duty to care for its less fortunate with little financial support from the county. Less affluent counties than Orange County allocate far more funds to care for their indigent. A system that has been held together in recent times by last-minute financial bailouts is, with the present overcrowding and understaffing, threatening to collapse. In concrete terms, if the tremendous increase in volume, if the shortage of equipment, if the insufficiency of nursing and doctor staff, were to cost us the life of a baby or a mother, we feel that is too dear a price to pay and accordingly are in full support of the difficult and drastic measure of deflection.

EVE BOYD, MD

Obstetrics and gynecology,

UCI Medical Center

( This letter was signed by 17 residents at the UCI Medical Center. )