[Midwife-led labour in a Swiss hospital].

A midwife-led labour care model was introduced in a Swiss University Hospital. This new model enabled expectant mothers who had a low risk medical history to give birth with the support of only a midwife. The model has been evaluated as part of a pilot project in a comparative study.

[Who is interested in quick and intentional death--reflections of a public health economist].

Healthcare economics deals with the concepts of direct, indirect and intangible costs and the interrelated timeframes. Using two concrete examples, the author will examine the utilization patterns of direct and indirect costs and take a look at the participants who might be interested in a quick and intentional death.

An economic analysis of ischaemic heart disease in Switzerland.

Aims: Direct and indirect costs of ischaemic heart disease were assessed in Switzerland, for the period 1988-1993, in order to evaluate the economic consequences of more intensive treatment of the disease and of the decreasing mortality from ischaemic heart disease in the working population.

Methods And Results: A societal perspective was taken for a prevalence-based assessment of the direct (total resources consumed by outpatients and inpatients) and indirect (due to morbidity, invalidity, and premature death, using the human capital approach) costs. The results showed the total costs were 21 million US dollars per 100000 population in the year 1993 (47% direct, 53% indirect costs).