Lubbock, Patients Shouldn’t Have to Pay for Healthcare Turf Wars

There are a handful of things most of us expect to be complicated in Lubbock. Crossing the highway in the middle of a haboob. Deciding where to eat with 10 million great options. Making a root canal appointment and being told the next available opening isn't until the new year...

But finding an OB-GYN? That should be an easy one.

And yet, here we are.

So, What's Going On?

A recent dispute between University Medical Center and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center has put Lubbock's OB-GYN services (or lack thereof) in the spotlight. Two OB-GYNs, Dr. Amber Coon and Dr. Amy Richards, recently resigned from their positions with UMC Physicians.

According to KCBD, Texas Tech says UMC's physician hiring arrangement violated existing agreements as well as state law. UMC, on the other hand, disputes those claims and says the situation affects its ability to replace departing physicians.

Sounds like a pretty complicated legal and institutional argument to me.

Patients don't exactly care who wins.

They care whether or not they can get an appointment.

Read More: Texas Tech Physicians Clarify Maternity Provider Claims

We Need This Problem Fixed...Fast

KCBD previously reported that patients have a hard time finding OB-GYN care, including a pregnant Lubbock woman who was having a terrible time finding a new provider after learning her doctor was leaving.

Can you imagine being pregnant and calling office after office only to hear that they are all booked up?

You can't exactly cross your legs and hope the baby stays put...

It's more than a minor inconvenience to have so few OB-GYNs in a city this size.

UMC and Texas Tech both have important roles in keeping Lubbock and the South Plains healthy.

If there are legal issues, resolve them.

If agreements need to change, change them.

If we need more doctors, recruit them.

Allowing patients to become collateral damage while institutions fight over who gets to employ the doctors is pretty ridiculous.

Meanwhile, patients' lives hang in the balance.

Lubbock patients need to be able to get care.

None of us asked for a turf war.