Critical services for pregnant women, babies cut from this South Florida hospital

A South Florida hospital announced Wednesday it is cutting critical services for pregnant woman and their babies.

North Shore Medical Center has cut their neo-natal unit as well as its labor and delivery unit.

The change is not only impacting patients, but doctors will now have to find a new place to practice.

Dr. Christ-Ann Magloire has been an OB-GYN at North Shore Medical Center for decades which is why she felt blindsided when she found out the hospital was getting rid of her department.

"I’ve been here at this hospital for over 20 years," Magloire said. "Most of the doctors have been here 10,15, 20 years. Right now, we are extremely scared."

Last week, Magloire and other doctors were told that in March the hospital would no longer provide care in its obstetrics unit, which offers women labor and delivery services.

But on Wednesday, they got a letter from the hospital stating the change would be "effective February 14, instead of the original planned day of March 10th."

The hospital cited "change of business" as the reason for the closure.

"The community wants us, but the background, the infrastructure is unable to afford us," Magloire said. "What am I supposed to do?"

Magloire told NBC6 a large percentage of their patients don't have insurance or haven't received consistent medical care. Many are from the Caribbean, particularly Haitian, and several are Latin or African American.

"We have these recent immigrants that have come in where many of them come from the border, have not seen a physician for some time and landing on the steps of the hospital," Magloire said.

She added that cutting these services so suddenly is dangerous and will force patients to go somewhere else for care.

"It’s very dangerous if we don’t have the services necessary to take care of them when they’re in an acute critical state," Magloire added.

The cuts are also impacting doctors who have to find new places to practice and Magloire said getting credentialed at a new hospital could take months.

"We are hoping we can get emergency privileges," she said. "That’s all we can do is hope at this stage."

Pediatrician Dr. Jose Rub told NBC6 although his job is not at risk, losing the unit will hurt their services overall.

"It’s going to be a major problem for our population that we serve in this hospital," Rub said.

The hospital released a statement to address the cuts made.

"This early transition was caused by a few factors including staffing level challenges and adjustments to our overall business plans," the statement said. "NSMC has activated its approved transition plan to transfer or discharge the few remaining patients prior to closure."

Magloire said in the end, the community will face the biggest loss.

"It’s sad and I’m very upset that the government hasn’t stepped up," she said.