IRONWOOD, MI— Aspirus Ironwood Hospital is ending labor and delivery services, effective December 31 of this year.
Administration says persistent national and regional OB/GYN shortages were a driving factor in the decision. Since June 2024, the hospital has operated with just one full-time family practice/ obstetrics physician, making 24/7/365 coverage unsustainable.
Aspirus says the American Medical Association projects the U.S. will face a shortage of 5,000 OB/GYNs by 2030, a challenge that has already led more than a dozen Wisconsin and Michigan hospitals to end deliveries.
Fewer than 40 percent of rural hospitals nationwide now perform routine deliveries, citing declining volumes, workforce shortages, and quality concerns.
The Michigan Nurses Association says Aspirus only informed OB nurses at the hospital on Friday. The union says the action ramps up the crisis for U.P. families needing to safely have a baby and adding to Aspirus’s gutting of health care for communities across the region.
The corporation has cut services and closed facilities in the U.P., including:
•Closing the Ontonagon hospital after promising to expand it
•Ending delivery services at Aspirus Keweenaw and cutting nurse staffing at the hospital
•Eliminating almost all certified nurse aide positions at Aspirus Iron River and adding responsibilities to nurses there
“Aspirus should not be allowed to keep treating U.P. communities like our lives don’t matter,” OB nurse Ashley Thompson says. “Nurses want the best for our patients and most of all, we want to keep them safe. This is our community, too, and we won’t be silent in the face of Aspirus’s heartless cuts.”
Nurses say they’re worried about women who will have to drive 45 minutes to Ashland or another Wisconsin hospital to have their babies.
