To the editor:
I have been reading the articles and letters regarding the Copley Birthing Center.
Aren’t patients who use Copley’s birthing center more likely to come back for other medical services? If they go to another hospital to give birth, aren’t they more likely to go to that hospital for other medical services? I know I like to keep my medical care centered around one facility.
I read that currently, when Copley’s birthing center is not busy, they are able to utilize the birthing center nursing staff with other patients in that area or in other areas of the hospital. Without the birthing center, would the hospital have that flexibility of staff?
If Copley’s Birthing Center is losing $3-5 million a year, how are other birthing centers doing?
If birthing centers are losing money, then why did the legislature feel the need to pass legislation allowing freestanding birthing centers? [Act No. 19 (S.18). An act relating to licensure of freestanding birth centers, signed by the Governor on May 13, 2025.]
If Copley’s birthing center closes, will someone establish a freestanding birthing center in Lamoille County? If so, how will they financially survive without the staffing flexibility that Copley has? Are there already plans in the works to establish a freestanding birthing center in Lamoille County? If so, is that having any impact on the deliberations as to whether or not to close Copley’s birthing center?
Jeannine A. Young
Craftsbury Common
