Suspect Diagnosis

James Taranto pointed this out in Toronto's Globe and Mail:

More than 100 Canadian women with high-risk pregnancies have been sent to United States hospitals over the past year – in what a doctors' group attributes to the lack of a national birthing plan.

Given that the system these women are being sent to also lacks a "national birthing plan", the doctor's group's diagnosis may not be accurate.  In fact, they said, "the problem is due to bed closings that took place almost a decade ago, the absence of a national birthing initiative and too few staff," implying mistakes on the part of the system that does exist.

The advantage of not having a "national plan" is seen when a local hospital, the bottom tier of the system, decides to close beds and or reduce staff.  It only affects its own clients, who can usually find nearby alternatives quite easily.  But when such a decision is made at the top of the system, it affects everyone and alternatives exist only for those who can leave the country.