Baby Care

You are waiting for a baby! When the joy and emotion on this are a little bit over, you start to think about in which hospital you would like to give birth, what medical and related legal issues you will encounter …

Your rights

The Constitution provides health right, regardless of gender, race, nationality and residence. Therefore, every pregnant woman has the right of having medical care and supervision in state and municipal health facilities free of charge at the expense of the relevant budget, insurance contributions and other income. Recently pregnant women were discharged so-called birth certificate, which is intended to provide additional funding for counseling and maternity house. This document confirms the fact that the woman should receive free medical care throughout pregnancy and during childbirth.

The certificate has two parts – one includes free supervising physician, the collection of mandatory tests, surveys during pregnancy, and the second – to pay for the maternity house. To obtain the certificate, the expectant mother must bring her passport in consultation, the policy of compulsory medical insurance card and the state pension insurance.

The important thing is that the certificate is issued 30 weeks earlier. Women don’t receive money as the price can differ depending on medical equipment of the medical establishment and paying the staff. So it turns out that the expectant mother, giving preference to certain prenatal consultation and maternity hospital, herself defines the medical institution, which receives support from the state.

Of course, in principle, the quality of service in the consultation does not affect the transfer of public money from the certificate, and in case of violation of women’s rights, pregnant may file a complaint with the agency or go to court. Nevertheless, these institutions appeared to be a better incentive than others, there is healthy competition, and beneficial to themselves, and a woman who purchased the latest equipment and medicines, improved terms of being a woman in a medical facility.

It should be noted that such a state program is intended only to state institutions, and it does not apply to private clinics and maternity hospitals.

If you have chosen to give childbirth at private maternity house…

Often a woman chooses paid medical center or a private clinic. To do this, you must enclose with the agency an agreement for the provision of paid services. In this case you are acting as a consumer and, therefore, such relations are governed by the laws on consumer protection. First of all, check for certificate and license for the selected type of activity, and what the features of working with clients. The contract should be concluded between you and the medical center; it must be prescribed by the terms and delays in obtaining medical services, payment arrangements, rights, duties and responsibilities of the parties. Read carefully and specify all details of the contract before you sign it. Payment for the provision of paid services should be done at medical institution with the use of cash machines (you must issue a receipt confirming and Proof of payment through cash). As consumers, patients in private clinics and hospitals have the right to make claims for damages caused by failure or improper performance of contract, damages in the event of injury to life and health, as well as compensation for moral damage.

Troubleshooting

However, in practice, not everything is so simple. In any case, remember that you can always consult a doctor, regardless the residence. The exceptions are small cities and towns, where the choice or transfer from one consultation to another is impossible, simply because a doctor serves a certain number of patients by law can not simply take someone else, and a woman herself cannot travel to neighboring village which may be far enough.

The main consulting physician is usually appointed by the head of the medical institution or by the choice of women, but again, provided that the desired doctor has not fixed the maximum number of services for patients, although it is necessary to write a statement and present to the chief physician the reasons why you prefer the specific physician.

According to the legislation on health care, everyone has the right to receive information about his/her health. As we have seen from the above, this applies to all, including to the future mother. Unfortunately, doctors often ignore the natural and legitimate desire of women to know what happens with them in a particular period of pregnancy, for which she needs to take prescribed medications and vitamins.

However, a woman can get the available information about her condition, including information about the surveyresults, the presence or absence of disease-related or not related to pregnancy, the diagnosis, methods of treatment, on possible options for medical intervention and its consequences.

If necessary, or if there is any doubt about the diagnosis (for example, a woman suspected medical error because of lack of haste and carelessness in the treatment of clinical data and laboratory tests) she can consult with another physician or other specialized professionals.

A woman must be provided with copies of medical records (outpatient maps, surveys, tests, ultrasonic). If the doctor suggests a medical intervention or sends her to the hospital to identify the threat of termination of pregnancy, she can waive, although the patient should be explained the possible consequences. Such a refusal is made in the medical record documents, i.e. in the map (along with explaining the implications), and signed by women and health workers. In this case, the whole responsibility falls on your shoulders. The doctor will only continue to monitor your condition and if necessary, again ask you to go to hospital.

All information relating to pregnancy is a medical secret, and its disclosure is not permitted without the consent of the woman. That exception is, firstly, if the expectant mother is a minor in order to notify her parents or other legal representatives, because due to her age and inexperience, she can not and should not take a decision on retention or termination of pregnancy, and secondly, whether there are grounds for believing that the pregnancy is a result of rape, and thirdly, by request of investigative bodies, and, finally, while examining and treating women who are not able to express their will, for example when there are distinct signs of mental disorder.

In conclusion, I would say that we can and must enjoy our legitimate rights (in this case, of course, not abusing them) and be able to defend our interests – and then everything will be well.