Texas hospital shifts patients to another facility amid shortage of neurosurgeons

For months, Harris Methodist Fort Worth (TX) Hospital has been forced to turn away emergency patients with brain and spine injuries because of a shortage of neurosurgeons. The hospital, which is a level 2 trauma center, has just four neurosurgeons available to treat trauma cases and the problem could escalate if several key physicians follow through on threats to leave. As a result of the shortage, crews routinely are told to take victims of car wrecks and falls and others with serious neurological injuries to the publicly funded John Peter Smith Hospital a few blocks away.