This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah birthing centers will have an easier time expanding and becoming licensed under a bill approved Tuesday by a Senate committee.
The bill, sponsored by Spanish Fork Republican Sen. Deidre Henderson, would eliminate two procedural rules that she said have created paradoxical barriers for midwives and other care providers.
Despite being allowed under state law, she said, no birthing center has successfully obtained an operating license, due to requirements that the facilities obtain written transfer agreements with nearby hospitals and collaborate with physicians.
The contradictory policies have led to a number of unlicensed birthing centers operating under a series of legal exceptions.
"There are no licensed birthing centers in the state of Utah," Henderson said.
Henderson said hospitals refuse to participate in transfer agreements because they worry such an agreement would imply liability if a patient were injured or died.
But she added that the requirement for a transfer agreement is unnecessary because hospitals are required by law to accept patients in labor.
By clearing the licensure process, she said, birthing centers would be able to obtain permits and be subject to greater oversight and scrutiny from state agencies.
"If you're worried about safety and regulation and rules," she said, "I would think you would want to support this bill."
Suzanne Smith, owner of Better Birth, said she welcomes the chance to obtain a license for the four birthing centers she operates.
She said she likes "having standards to live up to," and added that the legal exceptions that allow her business to operate are burdensome and create the potential for complications.
Unlicensed birthing centers are limited to operating a single birthing room, she said, which presents challenges in cases of multiple patients.
"The problem is when two women [arrive] in labor," she said. "What do you do?"
A license would also help with the overhead of a birthing center by allowing a single facility to operate multiple birthing rooms.
"It makes much more sense, financially, to have more than one birthing room," Smith said.
Members of the committee expressed concern over the safety and liability of birthing centers, and the degree to which liability shifts to a hospital when patients are transferred.
Sen. Brian Shiozawa, R-Cottonwood Heights, suggested that despite protections for hospitals in law, a patient or a patient's family would be more likely to pursue litigation against a major medical center in the event that complications led to the transfer of a mother or newborn who was treated at a birthing center.
"A piece of paper is not going to stop a lawsuit like this," he said.
Sen. Peter Knudson, R-Brigham City, ended the debate by moving to advance the bill to the full Senate. He said the issue at hand was not the safety or liability of birthing centers, but whether midwives would be able to access the laws that currently exist.
"Our debate has been more centered on whether there should be midwives or not," he said. "That has already been decided."
The committee ultimately voted to approve the bill in a 4-2 vote.
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