Ob/gyns on Long Island dropping deliveries, leaving state

For more than a decade, Dr. Juliana Opatich has practiced obstetrics and gynecology, two specialties long viewed as a single profession.

But as of July 1, Opatich will no longer perform obstetrics, a decision that will significantly reduce her liability insurance costs and, she hopes, boost her profits.

Opatich, a solo practitioner in Bethpage, is one of a growing number of ob/gyns in New York State who, faced with malpractice premiums topping $100,000 and declining reimbursement rates for services, are making the often heart-wrenching decision to stop delivering babies. Others are dropping gynecological surgery, or simply retiring earlier than they had planned.

In a recent survey by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 212 ob/gyns in New York State, or 16 percent of those surveyed, indicated that they have stopped practicing obstetrics. That's left seven of the state's 62 counties with no ob/gyns.

Forty percent of the state's counties have fewer than five obstetricians. About 36 percent of ob/gyns certified by the American Board of Gynecology are 60 years or older.