Notwithstanding the fact that 13 Philadelphia area hospitals have stopped delivering babies since 1997, Governor Ed Rendell’s office has concluded from a recent study that in fact there is no obstetric physician crisis in Pennsylvania. According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer (found here), the number of practicing OB-GYNs was stable from 2004 to 2006, but 18 percent of OBGyns in southeastern Pennsylvania surveyed in 2006 indicated that they planned to stop delivering babies in 12 months suggesting that a crisis may in fact be coming.
