There's An Ob-gyn Shortage. Will It Impact Your Care?

ON A TYPICAL DAY Heather Bartos, M.D., sees about 30 patients; in an average month she delivers 20 to 25 babies.

- Barbara Brody

An ob-gyn practicing about 45 minutes outside Dallas and chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Denton, she also spends a day a week in surgery and another tackling administrative tasks. She works through lunch every day so she can attempt to get home at a reasonable hour to see her kids, but the fact that a woman can go into labor at any time makes her days and nights pretty unpredictable. Sometimes the pace is overwhelming. “I know I can’t keep it up forever,” says Dr. Bartos.

There’s another reason Dr. Bartos’ schedule is so hectic: She’s one of only a handful of obstetricians in Denton. A few years from now, when she’s in her early fifties (she’s 47), she plans to scale back her patient load and handle only five or six deliveries each month. She doesn’t know who, if anyone, will step in to take her place. “There’s a really high rate of burnout among ob-gyns,” she says, and there aren’t many young doctors clamoring to start their careers in areas like hers. The potential fallout? Denton could have a shortage of ob-gyns even greater than it already has.