Table 2 Illustrative participant quotes on concerns about liability and risk in obstetric care

… obstetrics is higher risk. So, as family physicians … we pay liability insurance through [CMPA]. And for any family physician that practices obstetrics, you actually pay higher insurance fees because it’s a higher risk practice of medicine than straightforward general family medicine … there are … things that can happen that are quite stressful, and outcomes aren’t always favourable. And people may not want to take on that responsibility or risk. (Family Physician, woman, NS)

Yeah, at one point I did consider maybe doing some obstetrical work as well. But I then realized that actually I hate that. I hate obstetrics. It was stressful … if I had like pursued that further and then later realized actually I don’t want to wake up at 3:00 in the morning and have someone potentially bleed out on me … That’s like not exciting for me. That’s terrifying. (Family Physician, woman, ON)

… it’s the only time in medicine that you’ve got two healthy beings that can either remain healthy or something bad can happen. And when that happens, it’s devastating. But if someone comes into emerg with a heart attack, if they die, it’s sad. But they had a heart attack. If you save them, everybody’s elated and happy. You’re seeing sick patients and you’re trying to make them better. OB’s terrifying because you’ve got healthy patients and the expectation is they stay healthy. (Family Physician, woman, BC)

… I’ve seen very critical situations. And I realized that I would not want to be put in that position. Because obstetrics is particularly high risk in my opinion for family doctors to be doing… by just seeing a couple of like very high-risk situations that almost ended very badly kind of just reinforced the fact that that’s not an area of practice that I want to be involved in. (Resident, man, NS)