After the closing

It's been over three years since the North Shore Birth Center was shut down. Is Beverly Hospital keeping its commitment to continue 'substantially similar services'?

Remember the North Shore Birth Center?

The small building on the campus of Beverly Hospital supported the births of almost 10,000 babies since it opened in 1980. It was a place where women could give birth in a home-like setting, without medication, under the care of midwives

A little over three years ago, the hospital’s parent company, Beth Israel Lahey Health, decided to shut the place down for good. The decision sparked protests, but as everyone soon learned, there’s not much you can do when a hospital decides to discontinue a service.

Well, there is one thing, which is why I’m writing this story now. State regulations allow the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office to step in and require a hospital to continue providing “substantially similar services,” which it did in the case of the North Shore Birth Center. And the hospital had to hire a third-party monitor to track its compliance.

So how is the hospital doing in that regard?