OB-GYN-L Messages for August, 2000: Re: City hospitals to discourage publishing newborns' names

Re: City hospitals to discourage publishing newborns' names

From: Anna Meenan, MD

annam@uic.edu

Tue Aug 1 17:20:46 2000

>Two interesting articles from our local newspaper and food for thought.

>What do they do at your hospital?

Our hospital still publishes the names. Interestingly enough, I have had a friend whose baby was kidnapped as a direct result of a birth announcement. This was several years ago, probably about 15, I think. Our clinical pharmacist had a baby and the announcement included the title of "Dr." for the father. The guy who kidnapped the baby, (who was actually closer to a year old by the time he was kidnapped), openly admitted that he went through the papers looking for a birth announcement with the title "Dr." in it when he planned the kidnapping. He left the baby in a burlap sack at the edge of a two-lane country road outside of town, lots of dramatic calls and instructions from pay phones all over town, a high-speed motorcycle chase, and the baby was found after dark. Perp apprehended and ransom recovered, baby OK except for multiple mosquitoe bites. A happy ending to a scary day for our pharmacist but I never allowed my title in our birth announcements after that.

-- Anna Meenan, MD > >City hospitals to discourage publishing newborns' names > >By DOUG POKORSKI >STAFF WRITER > >Because of concerns about the possibility of child abductions and lawsuits, >Springfield's two maternity hospitals, beginning Tuesday, will stop >providing birth announcements to The State Journal-Register. > >New parents will be able to put their own birth announcements in the >Journal-Register under new procedures established by the newspaper, but >officials at St. John's Hospital and Memorial Medical Center will advise >them against doing so. > >"I don't know if the word I'd use is 'discourage' publication of birth >notices, but the word is real close," said Todd Riplinger, director of risk >management at Memorial. > >"We will recommend that (parents) not do it," said Eileen Streb, supervisor >of the Birthing Center at St. John's. She added that St. John's staff >members will suggest that new parents not announce new babies by putting >balloons, wooden storks or other items in front of their homes. > >Neither Memorial nor St. John's has ever had a child abduction. > >The two hospitals have agreed to provide new parents with a form that they >can use to submit a birth notice on their own. > >Previously, both hospitals gave new parents the option of putting birth >notices in the paper. Not all parents did so. But when parents did agree to >the publication, hospital staff members faxed the information to the paper. > >Riplinger and Streb said the two hospitals began considering abandoning >that procedure after a visit earlier this year from representatives of the >National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. After examining >procedures at both hospitals, the NCMEC representatives found that the only >security procedure at either hospital that didn't fully meet the >organization's standards was the policy on birth announcements. > >The NCMEC recommends that hospitals consider the risk of publishing birth >announcements and provide risk information to parents. If notices are >published, they should include only the parents' surname and not include a >home address or any other information that could aid a potential child >abductor in finding the baby. > >That recommendation was made despite the NCMEC's own statistics, which show >that the chances are miniscule that a child abduction may have been the >result of a birth announcement. > >Since 1983, there have been 192 reported cases nationwide of newborns or >infants being abducted. Of those, only four showed evidence that newspaper >birth notices may have been used to target a child for abduction, said >Cathy Nahirny, supervisor of the NCMEC case analysis and support division. > >All four of those infants were taken from their homes after being released >from the hospital, Nahirny said. One of the four abductions also involved >the murder of the mother, she said. > >No case of an abduction involving a published birth notice has been >reported since 1993, she said. > >Nahirny acknowledged that four cases out of an estimated 75 million births >over 17 years represents an extremely small degree of risk. By comparison, >a 1999 study by the national Institute of Medicine estimated that 44,000 to >98,000 people die each year because of medical errors committed in hospitals. > >Moreover, in the four cases where birth notices may have contributed to >abductions, the evidence that an abduction would not have occurred if the >notice had not been published is open to question. In one of the cases, for >example, the abductor of the baby had met the mother, knew she was pregnant >and had obtained her phone number months before the baby's birth. > >In another case, the kidnappers had been planning an abduction well before >the abducted baby's birth. They had been visiting a local hospital >maternity ward, as well as checking published birth announcements. > >Nahirny said abductors of newborns and infants almost always are women in >troubled domestic relationships who are convinced that having a baby in the >household will solve their problems. Such women are very determined, she said. > >Despite the apparent low level of risk from birth announcements, Nahirny >said, "If we can prevent (even) one baby from being abducted, that's good." > >She added that although the NCMEC evidence does not support the claim, >there is a fear that as hospitals tighten security procedures in maternity >wards, would-be abductors will turn more and more to abductions from the >child's home and that birth notices facilitate home abductions. > >Hospitals nationally have been discontinuing participation in the >publication of birth notices since at least the early 1990s. Although >concern over the risk of abductions has been a factor in those decisions, >the effect of hospital policies on the outcome of future lawsuits has also >been a major reason for the change. > >The magazine Hospital Risk Management reported on the liability concerns in >August 1992. It quoted James Turner, administrator of a Savannah, Ga., >medical center. > >"We recommend that hospitals not be involved in (the birth notice) process >at all," Turner was quoted as saying. "Plaintiffs' attorneys are going to >look for a link to the hospital. If the hospital puts in a birth >announcement, it provides a link." > >Turner also said having a policy against birth notices is part of an >overall strategy to demonstrate that hospitals are doing everything they >can to protect patients and to protect them from charges of "blatant >disregard" of safety issues. > >Riplinger, Memorial's head of risk management, said the issue of liability >and future litigation was never even mentioned in discussing ending birth >announcements, but St. John's Streb acknowledged that liability was a >serious concern there. > >"Exactly," she said. "A lot of cases that have gone to court have tried to >argue a hospital's liability because of birth announcements. This is a way >of avoiding that." > >Some new parents think the change in the hospitals' policy is a good idea. > >"There are people out there who would take advantage (of published birth >notices)," said Cory Wellman, Springfield, who gave birth to a son Monday. >"If people want to have (the announcement) in the paper, they can do like >they do with weddings and graduations (and turn in the information >themselves)." > >Evan Cozadd, whose wife, Janice, gave birth to a daughter Wednesday, >disagreed. > >Having the hospital provide the birth information to the newspaper is "a >nice service," he said. > >"They're afraid that somebody is going to take a baby. That's a bunch of >baloney. That's just crazy," said Cozadd, of Petersburg. "Frankly, it's >just a measure of the way society is becoming so litigious. They're afraid >of litigation, so they're taking away a service." > >Doug Pokorski can be reached at 788-1539 or doug.pokorski@sj-r.com. > >� Copyright 2000, The State Journal-Register > >- - - - > >SJ-R to continue birth notices > >By DOUG POKORSKI >STAFF WRITER > >The State Journal-Register will continue to publish birth notices, even >though local hospitals have decided to stop providing information on >newborns to the newspaper. > >In fact, the newspaper plans to expand the information it provides about >each baby. > >"We're in the business of providing information to the community," said >editor Barry Locher. "A lot of it is not very pleasant information. I would >hate to see the opportunity for good news like this to be taken away. It's >not going to be." > >St. John's Hospital and Memorial Medical Center have announced that >effective Tuesday, they will stop providing birth information to the >Journal-Register and will discourage new parents from doing so on their own. > >Hospital officials said the decision was due to fear that birth notices >might give helpful information to potential child abductors and to concerns >that participation in publishing them could cause legal liability >problems for the hospitals. > >"We understand the concerns and the fear that the community, and especially >the medical community, lives in (regarding) legal proceedings," Locher >said. "None of us wants to jeopardize the safety of children. > >"But we don't see that putting a baby's name and the parents' names in the >newspaper, in all honesty, jeopardizes the child's safety. ... It's too bad >we live in such a fearful society." > >To continue to publish birth notices, the paper has instituted new >procedures for parents to get the information to the Journal-Register. The >hospitals have agreed to give forms for parents to provide the information, >although they will discourage their use. > >The forms also are available at the front desk of the Journal-Register >building at Ninth Street and Capitol Avenue during regular business hours. >Forms also can be downloaded from the paper's Web site -- http://www.sj-r.com. > >The newspaper historically has published the names and hometown of a baby's >parents, the gender of the baby, and the date and place of birth. > >Additional information provided through the new forms includes the baby's >name, the names of the baby's grandparents, living or dead, and the names >of any living great-grandparents. > >Parents will be responsible for seeing to it that the forms are delivered >to the paper. Births are listed daily in the "For the Record" column of the >Journal-Register. > >Noting that he was anxious to share the news when his children were born, >Locher said the Journal-Register will continue to publish birth notices "as >long as parents want us to." > >"I would encourage people to take this opportunity to pass the good news on >to friends and family," he said. > >Doug Pokorski can be reached at 788-1539 or doug.pokorski@sj-r.com. > >� Copyright 2000, The State Journal-Register

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