Obstetrics in family practice in the state of Ohio

Two hundred eighty-two active members of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians responded to a survey questionnaire regarding the content of obstetrics in their practices. Factors that may influence physicians to discontinue obstetrics were also evaluated. Sixty respondents (21 percent) were performing vaginal deliveries in 1987. Only 45 (16 percent) planned to continue delivering babies beyond 1989. Family physicians who started practice within the past seven years were less likely to include obstetrics in their first year of practice than those who began practice prior to 1980. To those physicians who have eliminated obstetrics from their practice in the past five years, fear of litigation and increasing malpractice insurance costs were significantly more important issues than to their colleagues who had stopped doing obstetrics prior to 1976. Every year fewer family physicians choose to provide care to their obstetric patients. The results of this study suggest that only with changes in the medicolegal and liability environments will obstetrics continue to be a part of family practice in Ohio.