Wednesday 22 June 2022 04:50 PM Meghan Markle's obstetrician who helped deliver Lilibet shuts her practice with ... trends now
The obstetrician who helped deliver Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's second child Lilibet has shut her practice with little notice, telling patients she needs to 'focus on my own health and be with my family'.
Dr Melissa Drake made the announcement on Instagram, where she said it had been 'the honor of my life to work with the women of Santa Barbara' before announcing a 'leave of absence' starting on June 30.
She said patients procedures or surgeries planned before June 30 would go ahead but warned pregnant women with appointments after the date would need to transfer care to a different practice.
Dr Drake, who is married fertility doctor and has four step kids, oversaw the birth of Queen Elizabeth's 12th great-grandchild Lilibet at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on June 4, 2021.
Expectant mothers in the wealthy region were taken by surprise over the sudden closure, with one branding the news 'shocking and handled terribly'.
'Now there are hundreds of women (myself included) running around trying to find care,' she wrote on the Santa Barbara Moms Facebook group.
Another said she was 'devastated' by the news and that she knew at least ten other local women looking for a new practitioner.
The obstetrician who helped deliver Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's second child Lilibet has shut her practice with little notice, telling patients she needs to 'focus on my own health and be with my family'
Dr Drake wrote on Instagram: 'It has been the honor of my life to work with the women of Santa Barbara. I am taking a leave of absence to focus on my own health and be with my family.
'It is important that you continue with appropriate medical care; therefore you should establish
