Samaritan Lebanon (Ore.) Community Hospital will temporarily pause labor and delivery services Jan. 15 after an unplanned loss of OB-GYN physician coverage and patient safety concerns.
“This fall, all OB-GYN physicians providing care in Lebanon resigned for personal reasons,” Marty Cahill, president and CEO of Corvallis, Ore.-based Samaritan Health Services, said in a Dec. 18 letter to the community. “At the same time, another regional provider made the decision to discontinue OB-GYN services in Corvallis. These changes, combined with the nationwide shortage of OB-GYN physicians, created a sudden and significant loss of coverage across the valley.”
While Samaritan expanded national recruitment efforts and outreach to temporary clinicians and staffing agencies, it has been unable to secure continuous physician coverage needed to safely support Lebanon deliveries.
Lebanon Health Center will continue outpatient OB-GYN care on a limited basis, and Samaritan hopes to resume deliveries as early as April 2026, if temporary staffing can be secured.
Mr. Cahill said pregnant patients who are expecting to deliver after mid-January should work with their provider to find a different delivery location, and that labor and delivery services at other Samaritan hospitals will continue without interruption.
Samaritan also plans to partner with the Oregon Nurses Association to seek temporary staffing solutions and redeployment opportunities for its nurses during this time, with no layoffs planned.
“This is not a closure of the Girod Birth Center,” Mr. Cahill said. “It is not a reversal of our commitment to Lebanon, and it is not related to earlier consolidation discussions or the proposed affiliation. This pause is temporary and based solely on patient safety and the current workforce reality.”
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