Is Methodist's Labor & Delivery Unit Way More Fucked Up Than Other Hospitals'?

K, so remember when we talked about the fact that all the BK mamas are defecting to go birth their tiny terrors on the the Isle du Manhattan? You told us your Methodist horror stories here.

Not too long after, we got an anonymous email from a reader who calls herself "Rogue Nurse," an R.N. at Methodist in the Labor & Delivery Unit, about the c-section sitch happening there.  The tl;dr version of it is, in this nurse's opinion, that the entire operation is fucked (in Park Slope.  Yep.).  Clickity-click for the full dispatch:

I am a registered nurse at Methodist Hospital in the Labor and Delivery unit. I've worked there for many years and have become what is referred to as a "seasoned nurse". I am not a nurse at heart, only by training. It was never what I wanted to be when I was a little kid. I wanted to be a go-go dancer, or an artist of some sort. But I am very gentle and nurturing, for which my patients consistently praise me. I am also an advocate for their rights, much to the annoyance of certain scalpel happy doctors. I won't misinform a patient about what is really going on with their progress, the baby's tolerance for labor or their options, but some practitioners with parties to go to, golf games to participate in or mani-pedi's sceduled (true stories), will call a c-section for fabricated reasons such as "failure to progress" (ie: failure to have baby in the time frame MD deems is sufficient), breech presentation (butt or feet first) and cephalopelvic disproportion (ie:baby is too big to come out of her vagina).

Now, I agree there are some situations that call for a c-section, but some of the reasons named are often used as excuses to perform a c-section when the baby could be delivered vaginally if the MD had a little more time, patience and even skills!

I have only met one doctor who was not phased by a baby who preferred to enter the world booty or toes first. He didn't even blink when his patients were diagnosed as having a breech baby. They would be cared for in the same manner as any other patient in labor. Watching him in action was a treat. Not many with his skills remain. He was a rarity and I always enjoyed working with him. He was not intimidated by the natural process of childbirth and he worked to facilitate the entrance of the baby into the world, not micro manage it.

Unfortunately he decided not to practice at Methodist anymore since it had so many conflicting policies and procedures, which made it next to impossible for him to continue his profession unimpeded.

Don't get me wrong. There are a handful of very skilled doctors and midwives at Methodist Hospital, all very learned and gifted in their line of work. However, I know that most of them are influenced by the litigation happy culture that we live in and they would prefer to do a c-section than take a risk with a vaginal delivery that may or may not have a bad outcome. It's a gamble; the business of delivering babies. They say that you can expect to be sued at some point in your career, maybe multiple times. In some ways I cannot blame the doctors for being so nervous about trusting the birth process, and wanting to control everything.

There is the factor of economics to consider as well. A doctor will get paid more to do a c-section (but not a nurse, even though we are running around doing the job of 3 people during a surgical delivery), and the hospital gets more money for a c-section. It is also a fact that it is a goal of the hospital to have more turn over when it comes to processing patients. We have 12-13 delivery rooms, 3 operating suites, 6 triage beds, 8 recovery beds, 8 antepartum beds and 4 "just-in-case" beds which are available for overflow. If we have 8-10 RN’s to take care of all of that during a shift, we consider oursleves lucky. If we do have that many we can also expect the nursing supervisor to float one of our specialized RN’s to work on the mother baby unit where a med-surge RN could just as easily be floated. We are not supposed to be floated, but that is never accepted as a reason for us to refuse. If we refuse, we are disciplined.

On the mother baby unit they charge $200 per night for a private room, otherwise you must double up with someone who you might not appreciate sharing a room with. Despite the fact that Labor and Delivery alone makes a crapload of $$ for the hospital, we are still having to make due with faulty outdated equipment most of which is broken and missing. We have inadequate staffing, and the staff that continue to work there are treated dismally. In the meantime Methodist Hospital big shots decided that a new million dollar lobby renovation was in order. That's right; to make a good first impression...so patients and their family members get the idea they are in a fancy state-of-the-art joint. They won't be able to tell that the equipment is in dire need of an upgrade or that the nurses are desperately trying to manage their workload while making due with the imperfect conditions. 

I could go on about what could be done, but it won't be done. As long as we have complaints, nothing will be done unless there is some accountability that cannot be pawned off upon the nurses and doctors and ancilliary staff.

We just continue to do our best with the little we have, and hope we don't get sued.

What's the deal? Any other nurses out there to talk about this?  Anyone have any other scoop from the doctors' or patients' side?  Is Methodist is really fucked way beyond comprehension, or if this is just the deal at BK hospitals/hospitals in general?  Have at it (but don't shoot the freaking messenger, SVP).