Although our choice is a public hospital (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Grenoble Alpes), we still don’t know whether it’s a good choice or not. All I can say now is that I found that hospital so far so good 🙂
We did a lot of research online, and we asked a few friends about their opinions. Private hospitals, or clinics, tend to have better services such as single rooms and faster appointments (less patients). More importantly, you will have designated sages-femmes and/or doctors, so you will be taken care of by somebody you are familiar with during the whole pregnancy. In comparison, sages-femmes and doctors in public hospitals work in shifts. You cannot guess who will be receiving your baby. You might even be surprised by the presence of students in case of a university hospital. Public hospitals cannot guarantee you a single room either.
In terms of money, the cost in public hospitals is almost fully covered by the social security in France. Private hospitals/clinics are more expensive, but I don’t know how much more. Actually, we have complementary health insurance (mutuelle), so even if we chose a private hospital/clinic, the cost would be largely covered, I guess. The cost is not a deciding factor for us.
What makes public hospitals stand out and made us decide to go to a public hospital is that they are more capable of dealing with emergencies. In fact, private hospitals/clinics do transfer you to public hospitals when something unexpected happens. This transferring process just does not sound good to me.
To us, safety is far more important than better service. However, I sometimes think that *maybe* the private hospitals/clinics do a better job in tracking the pregnancy because they can and do spend more time with the patient. But don’t forget that sages-femmes/doctors in public hospitals may be more experienced as they receive much more babies every year.
Nevertheless, luck is important! People get good or bad experience everywhere. Right now, I feel good.
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