In South Monterey County, family medicine physicians with obstetrics training are stepping in to provide prenatal care after Mee Memorial Hospital closed its labor and delivery unit in 2020. - Dr.
Ruth Pedraza, a family medicine physician at Mee Memorial, completed an obstetrics fellowship at Natividad Hospital in Salinas. - She provides prenatal testing and follow-up care to expectant mothers in King City and Greenfield, though deliveries still occur about an hour away in Salinas.
- A new California law (SB 669) requires critical access hospitals to have standby perinatal services, and a federal bill aims to keep rural labor and delivery units open. While family doctors help bridge the gap, experts like Alecia McGregor from Harvard note that without a local delivery unit, patients face higher risks of complications during childbirth.