Outcome of Care in Birth Centers

To the Editor: Rooks and colleagues (Dec. 28 issue) 1 provided findings about the safety of birth centers. It is remarkable, however, that the authors were not required to define birth centers more carefully. Thus, many readers undoubtedly may be left with the conclusion that birth centers, which were defined as "nonhospital" or "free-standing" facilities, are not contiguous with hospitals. This is very misleading. Specifically, Rooks and her coworkers reported that the transit time for 40 percent of the emergency transfers to hospitals was less than six minutes. Such data suggest either that the ambulances used were rocket-propelled or, more likely, . . .