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California hospital stops birth announcements

Healthcare Security Weekly, April 2, 2007

Concerned about the safety of babies and their mothers, a Chico, CA hospital joined other healthcare facilities in deciding it will no longer release birth announcements to local newspapers.

The Enloe Medical Center adopted the new policy as part of an effort to improve security in the hospital, reported the Associated Press. Enloe will continue to offer an online computer service, which lists babies' and parents' first but not last names and does not include the family's city of residence, according to a hospital press release.

There were 247 infants abducted between 1983 and 2007 in the United States, with 49% taken from healthcare facilities, 39% from homes, and 13% from other places, the hospital said, citing statistics from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Since the 1990's, due to increased hospital security, the trend has moved toward more abductions from homes and fewer from hospitals. There are documented cases where abductors identified their victims through newspaper birth announcements, the hospital said.

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