A 100 mile stretch of Virginia is completely without obstetrical care since the only two OB/GYNs packed it in due to soaring medical malpractice premiums. (via Common Good)

Just past Fredericksburg, Virginia’s Northern Neck is increasingly becoming known among Washingtonians for its waterfront real estate, tiny fishing villages and a quiet, isolated rhythm that makes you feel like you’re a million miles away.

But if you’re a pregnant woman about to go into labor, isolation isn’t necessarily a plus — particularly if you’re isolated from an obstetrician.

That has been the case for women on the Northern Neck since early last year, when the only two obstetricians on the 100-mile-long peninsula closed their 300-delivery-a-year practice because of rising malpractice insurance rates after decades in business.

Now, stories are common of women delivering babies in cars, parking lots and emergency rooms, getting their tubes tied and simply being panicky throughout their pregnancies, worried about getting to the nearest obstetrician — at least an hour away.

“This is like you are on a mountain somewhere, and you’re sick. . . . Of course you’re going to panic,” said Mattelyn Lee, 31, who had her tubes tied after her pregnancy in December, when she had to ride two hours while in labor from her home in Weems to Henrico Doctors’ Hospital outside Richmond. “Imagine you’re in a car, you have to have your seat belt on, you have to go to the bathroom, you have cramps. . . . I don’t want to be in that predicament again.”

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