François Mauriceau was a French obstetrician from Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. He received his training in obstetrics

Obstetrics

Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...

 at the Hôtel-Dieu

Hôtel-Dieu de Paris

The Hôtel-Dieu de Paris is regarded as the oldest hospital in the city of Paris, France, and is the most central of the Assistance publique - hôpitaux de Paris hospitals. The hospital is linked to the Faculté de Médecine Paris-Descartes...

.

Mauriceau was a leading obstetrician in 17th century Europe. He is remembered for publishing in 1668, Traité des Maladies des Femmes Grosses et Accouchées, a book that established obstetrics as a science, and was later translated into several language

Language

Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...

s. He is also known for development of a classical maneuvre of assisted breech delivery. He gave a description of tubal pregnancy, and with German midwife Justine Siegemundin 1650–1705), Mauriceau is credited for introducing the practice of puncturing the amniotic sac

Amniotic sac

The amniotic sac is the sac in which the fetus develops in amniotes. It is a tough but thin transparent pair of membranes, which hold a developing embryo until shortly before birth. The inner membrane, the amnion, contains the amniotic fluid and the fetus. The outer membrane, the Chorion,...

 to arrest bleeding in placenta praevia

Placenta praevia

Placenta praevia is an obstetric complication in which the placenta is attached to the uterine wall close to or covering the cervix. It can sometimes occur in the later part of the first trimester, but usually during the second or third. It is a leading cause of antepartum haemorrhage...

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In 1670, English obstetrician Hugh Chamberlen tried to sell the "secret" of a specialized obstetrical forceps

Forceps

Forceps or forcipes are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Forceps are used when fingers are too large to grasp small objects or when many objects need to be held at one time while the hands are used to perform a task. The term 'forceps' is used almost exclusively...

 to Mauriceau. Mauriceau became disgusted that the Chamberlen family

Peter Chamberlen

Peter Chamberlen was the name of two brothers, the sons of William Chamberlen , a Huguenot surgeon who fled from Paris to England in 1576. They are famous for inventing the modern use of obstetrical forceps...

 would keep such an important development a secret, and accused the Chamberlens of common swindling.

Publications

• Les Maladies des Femmes grosses et accouchées. Avec la bonne et véritable Méthode de les bien aider en leurs accouchemens naturels, & les moyens de remédier à tous ceux qui sont contre-nature, & aux indispositions des enfans nouveau-nés... Paris
  Paris
  Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
  
  Henault, d'Houry, de Ninville, Coignard 1668.
• Observations sur la grossesse et l'accouchement des femmes et sur leurs maladies et celles des enfans nouveau-nez. Paris, Anisson, 1694.