Bonner General Health, the only hospital in Sandpoint, announced Friday that it will no longer provide obstetrical services to the city of more than 9,000 people, meaning patients will have to drive 46 miles for labor and delivery care. The hospital’s board of directors and senior leadership called the decision emotional and difficult, and cited a loss of pediatricians, changing demographics and Idaho’s legal and political climate around health care as the reasons. “We have made every effort to avoid eliminating these services,” said Ford Elsaesser, the hospital’s board president, in a news release. “We hoped to be the exception, but our challenges are impossible to overcome now.”
