Withdrawal from maternity care. A comparison of family physicians in Ontario, Canada, and the United States.

To determine the relative importance of factors influencing the withdrawal of family physicians from maternity care, two studies, one done in Ontario, Canada, and the other done in the United States, were compared. The proportion of residency-trained family physicians who provide maternity care at the initiation of their careers and the proportion who have given up maternity care are nearly identical in the United States and Canada. Both studies found that about one half of the family physicians who currently provide maternity care were giving consideration to stopping. The reasons underlying this withdrawal were multifactorial. Malpractice issues were the predominant concern of United States family physicians, but the data from the studies indicate that other issues, such as interference with lifestyle and office practice and the effect of attitudes of obstetricians, should not be overlooked.