Earl K. Long closing inpatient labor, delivery July 1

Earl K. Long Medical Center will close and discontinue its inpatient labor and delivery services beginning July 1. Officials say the closure will include the well-newborn nursery, the intermediate care nursery and the neonatal intensive care nursery. Although the majority of charity patient services and medical training offered at Earl K. Long are moving to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, labor and delivery services are being moved several miles down Airline Highway to Woman’s Hospital. The LSU OB-GYN program will continue prenatal and woman’s services and fetal stress testing at the LSU North Baton Rouge clinic. Officials say affected staff members will move to other positions within the charity hospital and LSU clinics in Baton Rouge. No layoffs are expected.