Ochsner will close labor and delivery department at Bay St. Louis hospital

Ochsner Medical Center’s Hancock County hospital in Bay St. Louis is closing its labor and delivery department.

Hancock County acting administrator Jimmie Ladner said Ochsner had notified the county of its decision, citing a relatively low number of births in the area and the departure of the obstetrician who formerly delivered babies at the hospital.

“The county is certainly disappointed any time any service is removed from the hospital,” Ladner told the Sun Herald.

Ladner said that providing labor and delivery services is not required by Ochsner’s lease agreement with Hancock County, so the county had no power to block or approve the hospital system’s decision.

The decision will go into effect at the end of May.

“As the healthcare needs of our communities has changed over time, we must continually evolve our service offerings to better meet those needs today and in the future,” Tim Riddell, Ochsner’s regional medical director for the Mississippi Gulf Coast, said in an email. “While we will no longer be offering labor and delivery services at Ochsner Medical Center - Hancock, we remain committed to providing women’s and children’s care.”

Waveland Mayor Mike Smith had not yet heard about the closure of the department when he was contacted by the Sun Herald.

“My oldest child was born at Hancock Medical,” Smith wrote in a text message. “I know that it is difficult enough getting to the hospital if it’s close by when you’re in labor, but having to drive an additional 30 minutes or more further would make that even more difficult.”

“I would hate for us to lose labor and delivery at Ochsner’s Hancock Medical.”