We recommend that pregnant women take "beneficial precautions" - for the sake of themselves and their children. Exclusively preventive examinations are carried out by midwives. At the doctor's, the transition to prenatal diagnostics is smooth due to the use of ultrasound examinations.
If you ask the midwife, you can be sure that she only offers the actually necessary precautions that are taken in 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 is a deviation in the normal course of pregnancy, she will refer you to a doctor's office. You can consult your midwife and doctor at the same time.
Prevention by midwives and doctors has equal rights
Both enter the results of the screening into the maternity record. The maternity record is an examination booklet which is given to a woman by a midwife or doctor when a pregnancy has been confirmed. There are considerably more entries possible than necessary for prevention. Why? Because additional examinations have been decided by medical associations in consultation with health insurance companies and because doctors are mainly 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 women are healthy.
Heart sound measurement
Midwives usually use the well-known ear trumpet. Doctors usually use CTG (ultrasound). The medical guidelines recommend CTG examinations only after the calculated birth date (ET) has been reached.
Basic ultrasound examinations (medical services)
Ultrasound examinations are not part of prevention, but of prenatal diagnostics (search for genetic
Beware of the Healthcare Market!
Because much more can be examined than necessary, "Individual Health Services" (IGeL) are offered by the medical practice. The health insurances do not pay for services they do not consider useful or only in exceptional cases ( then the costs are covered). 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 about precautions and tests. All these benefits are voluntary and require your consent. Under constitutional law, parental rights are a valuable asset. They are superior to the professional rights of midwives and doctors.