Results of Supervised Midwife Practice in Certain European Countries

The midwife, as an established institution in obstetric practice, has been accepted abroad without question. The system of maternity care by properly educated and licensed midwives is, in fact, regarded as a state function, and the European medical profession has adjusted itself to fit into this scheme in varying degrees in different countries. It is not so many decades ago that practically all confinements in the majority of European countries were actually attended by midwives, and it is only with the growth of maternity hospitals that any decided proportion of cases has been handled by physicians. In some countries, such as Germany, the midwife even among the better classes of the population has done the actual deliveries, with the physician acting merely in an advisory capacity and ready to intervene or assist when the occasion arises. In this country we have been more hesitant in accepting the European system of