Preventive care - Basic information
How to distinguish maternal care from prenatal diagnosis
We recommend pregnant women to take sensible "maternal care measures" - for the sake of their own and that of their children. Strictly precautionary examinations are carried out by midwives. At the doctor's, the transition to prenatal diagnostics is smooth due to the use of ultrasound examinations.
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Ask the midwife and you can be sure that she offers only necessary maternal care usually provided for healthy women (e.g. blood group, urine, heart sounds, rhesus factor, weight gain). These examinations can be billed to your health insurance company. If there occurs a deviation in the normal course of pregnancy, she refers you to a doctor's surgery. You can consult your midwife and doctor at the same time.
Maternal care by midwives and doctors must be treated equally.
Both register the results of the screening into the maternity card. The maternity card is an examination booklet which is given to a woman by a midwife or doctor when the pregnancy has been confirmed. There are considerably more entries possible than necessary for maternal care. Why? Because additional examinations have been adopted by medical associations in consultation with health insurance companies and because doctors are naturally looking for pathology. That is their profession.
This also explains why midwives do not call their pregnant women patients. Midwives assume that pregnancies are something natural. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 85-90% of all women are healthy.
Heart tone measurement
Midwives mainly use the well-known ear trumpet. Doctors usually use CTG (ultrasound). The medical guidelines recommend CTG examinations only after the calculated childbirth date (ET) has been reached.
Basic ultrasound examinations (medical services)
Ultrasound examinations are not part of maternal care, but of prenatal diagnostics (search for genetic abnormalities and "errors").
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Because much more could possibly be examined than necessary, "Individual Health Services" (IGeL) are offered by the doctor’s surgery. Health insurances will not pay for services they do not consider useful. The costs are only covered in exceptional cases. We recommend to avoid everything that may burden you, your pregnancy, your child and your wallet.
There are no obligatory examinations.
You must be asked and informed regarding health care measures and tests. All these services are voluntary and require your consent. Constitutionally parental rights are a valuable asset. They are superior to the professional rights of midwives and doctors.