Pregnant women told to expect extra bill

Press, 9 December 1982, Page 6

Pregnant women told to expect extra bill

A lot of women booked into Christchurch Women’s Hospital to have their babies under their own doctors have already been warned that they may have to pay for private specialist care in the hospital. At least one woman has already had a bill for such care in the hospital, even though the proposal making this official has not yet been agreed to by the North Canterbury Hospital Board. Mrs Cathy Hide, president of the Christchurch Parents’ Centre, said that the centre was not happy about the proposal. “But what has made us really upset have been the letters sent out by Christchurch Women’s Hospital to private maternity patients and their doctors warning them that they will have to pay for any private anaesthetist they may need," she said yesterday. "The proposal has been put into effect . already, even though it has not been passed by the Hospital Board.

“A lot of women booked privately into Christchurch Women’s Hospital in the last few months have had a letter telling them they will have to pay for an anaesthetist, and as far as we know, all general practitioners who deliver babies have had a letter telling them they will have to be responsible for finding that private anaesthetist,” she said. One ' woman who had a forceps delivery as a private patient had been sent a bill for $7O for anaesthetist’s care she received during her delivery. She had been told that the $7O was the full amount she would have to pay, Mrs Hide said. She had approached the Parents’ Centre about it because she was very upset, and had not expected the bill. “When you’re having a forceps delivery you’re not in any state to decide'if you can afford to pay for the anaesthetic,” Mrs Hide said. The whole concept of a private patient in Christ-

church Women's Hospital was peculiar to the North Canterbury Hospital Board, as far as she knew, she said. . "In other public hospitals in New Zealand, such as Wellington, or even Lincoln, you are able to have your own doctor throughout your pregnancy, the delivery, and your post-natal care without having to become a ‘private’ hospital patient,” she said. “The anaesthetists in Christchurch are there, in the hospital, ready to give an anaesthetic quickly. By the time you have got a private anaesthetic out of bed and into the hospital, you would have waited at least an hour,” she said. “I think the proposal is a way of getting more women to go through the hospital clinic or to opt to go to a private hospital,” she said. “Once they know they are likely to become a clinic patient anyway after an anaesthetic, they will probably decide not to go through their own doctor after all.”