[Organization of obstetrical teaching and practice in our regions (particularly in Brussels) during the XIXth century...

The Napolean defeat at Waterloo entailed drastic changes of health services in our regions. Under the new Dutch rule, many different medical grades were put in use making the pertinent legal rules very difficult to apply. At Belgian independence, the Free University of Brussels was founded including a Faculty of Medicine of which the clinical infrastructure was mainly the Saint-Pierre Hospital located at the Hal Gate. In 1880, provincial schools for midwives were established while operative obstetrics remained in the hands of general surgeons. At Brussels, medical students rightly complained about the poor training of general practitioners in obstetrics. Until the first third of the XXth century, the vast majority of deliveries took place at home under the supervision of a midwife. A consultant surgeon was called upon only if deemed indispensable.