This Miami-area hospital is closing its maternity ward. What it means for patients
Expecting parents who live in south Miami-Dade County and plan to give birth at Jackson South Medical Center will soon need to look elsewhere.
The public hospital’s labor and delivery unit will be closing in the fall, leaving a large swath of the county that is already underserved with less access to nearby, essential maternal care, the Miami Herald has confirmed.
Jackson South, part of the county’s public hospital system, primarily serves patients who live in Perrine, Richmond Heights, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and other parts of southern Miami-Dade. Jackson Health System serves as a safety net for Miami-Dade County and provides care to everyone, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.
Jackson Health System spokesperson Krysten Brenlla told the Herald in an email that the decision to stop offering maternity services at Jackson South, 9333 SW 152nd St., was made “to better align with the current needs of the surrounding community.”
“We will work with our community doctors to ensure we fulfill our commitment to expectant mothers near their delivery dates, while also safely transitioning patients with earlier-term pregnancies to another center,” Brenlla said.
Brenlla declined to answer when exactly the unit will close or any of the Herald’s additional questions. She said employees affected by the closure “will have the opportunity to move into other positions at Jackson South or in similar units at our other hospitals.”
This is not the first time Jackson has wanted to shut down the obstetrics unit at Jackson South. In 2010, Miami-Dade County commissioners overruled plans made by the hospital’s governing body to shutter the hospital’s ward. At the time, the Public Health Trust — the governing body of Jackson — voted to close the under-used unit because it was causing the cash-strapped hospital system to lose money, according to Herald archives.
The closure of Jackson South’s labor and delivery unit is the latest in South Florida and comes at a time when many hospitals across the country have closed their maternity wards, with administrators often citing costs and staffing issues.
North Shore Medical Center in North Miami-Dade last year closed its critical but costly labor and delivery and neonatal units to cut costs. In 2023, Jackson South’s sister hospital, Jackson West, shuttered its ward. In 2022, Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale closed its ward. And in 2021, North Shore’s sister facility,Hialeah Hospital, closed its unit.
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Jackson South provides ER and specialty services, including oncology, neurosurgery and cardiac care. Its maternity services have been prominently displayed on its website, with 360-degree virtual tours available for its maternity suites and center. The site also currently displays Jackson South’s international “Baby-Friendly Hospital” designation, a recognition it first received in 2017 along with two other Jackson hospitals for giving “mothers the information, confidence, and skills necessary to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding or feeding their babies formula safely.”
What this means for patients
Patients who would have typically gone to Jackson South for maternity care will have to go elsewhere once the unit closes later this year.
The nearest hospitals with labor and delivery units are Kendall’s Baptist Hospital and South Miami Hospital. Both are owned by Baptist Health South Florida, the region’s largest not-for-profit healthcare system.
Other Miami-Dade hospitals with maternity wards include the Women’s Hospital at Jackson Memorial in Miami, Jackson North Medical Center in North Miami-Dade, HCA Florida’s Kendall Hospital, West Kendall Baptist Hospital, Baptist Health Homestead Hospital and Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach.
Brenlla said Jackson South will continue to offer OB-GYN services to patients and “remains fully committed to ensuring underserved patients have access to prenatal care” through its partnership with nonprofit Community Health of South Florida. The nonprofit, which serves South Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys, runs health centers that act as a one-stop shop of care for its patients and offers a variety of services, including primary care, pediatric, urgent care and women’s services.
Jackson South declined to make an administrator available for an interview with the Herald.
“Over the last decade, Jackson Health System has experienced unprecedented growth geographically and in the services we provide. Since opening in 2001, Jackson South Medical Center has provided high-quality care and an excellent patient experience,” Brenlla said in her statement. “During that time, we have learned that our success relies on adapting to our patients’ needs, such as when we opened Ryder Trauma at Jackson South in 2016 to improve access to lifesaving care for people in south Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys.”
This story was originally published July 3, 2025 at 2:20 PM.
