Gentrifying Moms Opt for Manhattan Hospitals
Brooklyn may have been attracting an increasingly affluent set of young adults in recent years but, according to stats dug up by The Times, many of them are returning to Manhattan when it comes time to give birth. While hospitals in Brownstone Brooklyn have lost local patients at a rapid rate, the four most prominent…
Brooklyn may have been attracting an increasingly affluent set of young adults in recent years but, according to stats dug up by The Times, many of them are returning to Manhattan when it comes time to give birth. While hospitals in Brownstone Brooklyn have lost local patients at a rapid rate, the four most prominent Manhattan hospitals saw the number of births rise 31 percent between 1998 and 2008. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of living in Brooklyn, said Dumbo resident Nicole Reece. “[But] Manhattan has some of the best doctors in the country. I live 25 to 45 minutes away from them. Why would I not choose them? Interestingly, while the number of births at Methodist Hospital in Park Slope rose 40 percent over ten years, the number of births to mothers who live in Park Slope, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens actually fell. The same pattern is also evident in Fort Greene, where only 16 local mothers crossed the river to give birth in 1998 but by 2008 that number was up more than tenfold to 169. While we suspect the phenomenon has something to do with people sticking with their Manhattan doctors in general when they move to Brooklyn, it also says something about the quality of care. The one serious experience that our family had in a Brooklyn hospital revealed such appalling (and almost deadly) levels of incompetence that we now avoid them at all costs. So let’s take a poll:
Manhattan Birth Certificate, Brooklyn Address [NY Times]
Brooklyn Moms Won’t Give Birth in Brooklyn Hospitals [Gothamist]
Graphic from The New York Times
we’re on our second kid – both born up at Cornell at 61st and York.
a handful of our brooklyn friends are on their second kid – none of whom were born in Brooklyn.
have never heard a first-hand account of a positive birth experience in a Brooklyn hospital.
in 10 years, had two emergencies: 1. went to LICH once – was like going back in time to the dark ages. surprised they didn’t recommend leaches or cupping. 2. went to Methodist once – was okay.
But still wouldn’t have my kids in Brooklyn when all the great hospitals of Manhattan are so close.
We had our daughter at Methodist two years ago. No major problems. We never really thought about Manhattan given the inconvenience of getting there in an emergency situation.
My daughter was born at Brooklyn Hospital in 1990. It all went fine. I walked down there. There was a pediatrician giving birth in the next room, which seemed to me a pretty good endorsement.
Birth experiences are subjective. I have heard horror stories from Methodist, NYU and LICH (many from LICH) as well as about home births. I have heard wonderful stories about all of the above also.
All things considered, I just wouldn’t pick a teaching hospital if I were doing it over again but even that wasn’t a huge deal. It’s just that having eleven 22 year-olds looking up your… nevermind.
St. vincent’s was one of the manhattan hospitals that didn’t cater to the more affluent—so now they closed.
whether for births or hip replacement – affluent people tend to go to affluent large hospitals and the big names are in manhattan. They are regional hospitals – people come from all over city and surrounding areas.
Besides for lot of people in brooklyn (especially the woman from dumbo) they are just as close/far and convenient/inconvenient as those in brooklyn.
I think it was actually getting better for a while, and now it’s worse. When I had my daughter most of my friends used midwives at LICH and so did I. LICH wasn’t terrific, but it wasn’t terrible. The lactation consultant was actually wonderful.
However, since then, they’ve closed the birthing center rooms (they were closed when I was there but available as private rooms for rent), and I think a lot of midwives have left.
With St. Vincent’s also closing (that was the Manhattan epicenter for the Brooklyn crunchy birth crowd, the more upscale people used St. Luke’s/Roosevelt), there are not a ton of options that the well-off crowd would want to use. My old midwife practice, for example, now only does home births. (I get the logic behind that, but I’m not a fan.)
If we did have a second kid, I’m not sure what I’d do, but I’d prefer to stay in Brooklyn. Logistics of getting over that bridge just seem like too much of a pita… and I think a lot of the fear of Brooklyn hospitals is fairly unjustified.
Then again, I had my major orthopedic surgery…
… in Manhattan.
We had our baby at NYU. Basically after much research and facility “Tours” we found the delivery rooms, nursery and post partum rooms to be far superior at NYU. Plus Methodist is so under staffed from what I hear and my own experience with the ER. The nurses and doctors at NYU were fantastic and we would recommend them highly. I also hear very good things about Lenox Hill for delivering.
I read this article with interest, because a coworker of mine fits this profile and had two children within an eighteen-month period. She gave birth to the first child in a Brooklyn hospital. I heard the “birth story” and it was truly a horror story. For a couple of months afterward she was still trying to shake the experience off. Also, breast feeding issues, as mentioned above. The second child was born at NYU and she said it was a completely different experience–for the better.
I must be a rare case – I moved out of Brooklyn to Northern NJ, but kept my OB in Brooklyn and had my second baby in Brooklyn. I figured, given the volume, there is nothing they haven’t seen in Maimonides. In any case, I was primarily choosing a doctor, not a hospital, and my OB works only in Maimonides.