Help German Midwifes to survive!

[Michiru]

I have been only reading here for quite some time, because writing in english is not thet easy for me. But I hope to bring attention to a very big problem in Germany.

The state and insurance companys are very busy in shutting down the midwife profession. Here are two articles about the situation:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/ger ... 66195.html

http://www.phdinparenting.com/blog/2010 ... tened.html

Fact is, from 2016 on midwifes don't have any insurance in Germany. At the same time they are not allowed to work without insurance. Already the insurance has gotten incredible high, without adequate pay for the midwifes. So more and more are already stopping to work.

Since 2010 there has been protests and protests about this tragedy, but nothing is done on the side of the politicians.

Now we try to have a petition to realise the legal right for choosing your own place of birth (of course especially homebirths are in danger!) and having the right to have one on one help during birth from a midwife. To be able to bring the petition to the next level (a hearing in front of politicians) we need 50 000 signatures untill the 7th of July. At the moment we have 6422 and the singings have sadly slown down the last days.

So what I am thinking: Legaly EVERYONE is allowed to sign the petition- you don't have to live in Germany and you don't have to be German to do it.

So I have already written to a lot of German people and nothing came of it- but what if I manage to get the help of the english speaking part of the Internet?

You are actually the first person I am writing, because I very much respect your vision of the world and trust that you find this problem important enought to help me.

Maybe you can write on your Blog about it and on your Facebookpage?

I guess we have to test, if it is possible to sign the petition without understanding German, but hopefully my explanation will be good enough. :)

This is the link:

https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/petiti ... 68.nc.html

In the upper right corner you have the Butten "Anmeldung" (Register).

Click on "Anmeldung".

The parts with the * have to be filled, the ones without * can be left without text.

I will now go through the things you have to fill out:

E-Mail Adresse*: Fill in your (active) Email adresse here.

Passwort*: Chose a password- For registration you have to use a password with at least 8 signs. It has to have at least one capital letter and at least one small letter and has to contain a number OR one of these: _#@*+!?$ etc.

Passwort wiederholen*: Type in the same passwort again

Pseudonym: This is an optional nick-name for the plattform. If you chose a name you can click on the next butten with "Ich möchte im Forum mit meinem Pseudonym auftreten" which will let you sign the petition and write in the forums with your nickname.

The next two buttons have to be klicked. One is the for allowing the site to publish that you signed the petition. (Even if it is just under your nickname!)

The next button is to say that you agree with the terms uf usage of the site.

Anrede: Optional! You can (but don't have to!) choose between "Mann" (man/mister) and "Frau" (women/mrs)

Vorname*: Put your surname here.

Nachname*: Put your last name here.

Straße, Hausnr*: Put your street and housenumber here.

PLZ*: Put your postal code here.

Ort*: Put your region here.

Land*: Put your country here.

Organisation: Optional! If you belong to an organisation and want to show it, put it here.

Telefon: Optional! If you want to put your telephone number here, you can do that.

Then you click "Jetzt registrieren" which means sign up.

Then an email should be sent to you. Klick on the link to activate your acount and THEN you can sign the petition! Sadly the homepage is not very good, so you might have to search a bit untill you find: "Petition mitzeichnen" . It is on the right middle side. Maybe it is easiest to search the webpage for the phrase!

Klick on "Petition mitzeichnen" (sign petition)

You have to sign in again! (I know- the homepage is ridicules)

Put in your email and your password.

Choose "Ich möchte mit meinem vollständigen Vor- und Zunamen in der Mitzeichnerliste geführt werden" if you want your real name on the list.

Choose "Ich möchte ohne Namen, nur mit Mitzeichner-Nummer aufgeführt werden" if you want to be pubished only with your number/nickname (not quite sure).

Click "Jetzt anmelden und mitzeichnen" to sign the petition. ("sign in now and sign petition")

Congratilations you made it through german buereaucracy and have helped us get one step closer to hopefully help the german midwifes, all pregnant women, women who want to have children in the future, and ANY future german, who might be born without midwife help.

If there are any questions I am happy to help!

[samurai_sarah]

Done!

Just two small things: 1. Your password has to consist of capitalized letters and numbers, otherwise you get "Passwort unzulässig", and 2. As far as German bureaucracy goes that was just a taster :lol:

[Michiru]

Thank you for adding that information. :-) And of course also for signing!

And yes, sadly that is even one of the "easier" bureaucracy steps, :doh:

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Hi @michiru. I found this thread through your profile after reading your post in the Köln gang assault thread. I always check the most silent posters because usually they have the most interesting things to say when they write. I'd like to know about the developments in this story. Midwifery is well respected in Italy, for example the public hospital where I gave birth the ob/gyn operation unit is midwives led (officially the head is a doctor though), doctors intervene only to treat emergencies and traumatic/pathological situations. so I find the ssituation you described very very strange. 

[Michiru]

Sadly the developments are not good - the situation is getting more and more troubling. Now there are more and more closing down the parts in hospitals that are there for giving birth. In a lot of parts of germany you now have to travvel quite a bit to get to a place that offers assistence. The insurance for midwives has been extendet, but is now more expensive then ever and more and more give up because the situation is just not getting any better. I think it will get a lot more worse befor it (might) get better. My guess is a women or child has to die on the way to the impossible far away hospital before something will be done. 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

I'm so sad to hear this. Germany is known as a country with high standards in health care.  I really hope people won't have to suffer too much or pay a price too high before politicians rethink their choices. 

[Michiru]

Thank you - I have to admit that I don't have very high hopes in that regard anymore, but maybe it will get better. 

 

[Pretzel]

The situation is troubling and sad. I don't know what else to say. My thoughts are with anyone who's in the profession and giving 100% at work every single day while fearing for their jobs.