Justine Siegemund

Justine Siegemund, or Siegemundin, (born Justine Diettrich; 26 December 1636 – 10 November 1705) was a Silesian midwife. Her obstetrical book, The Court Midwife, was the first German medical text written by a woman.

Early life Justine Diettrich was born on 26 December 1636, the daughter of Elias Diettrich, a Lutheran minister, in Rohnstock (now Roztoka, Poland), in the former Silesian Duchy of Jawor. Her father died in 1650 when she was 14 years old. In 1655, she married Christian Siegemund, an accountant. The couple remained childless through their 42 years of marriage and supported each other in their professional careers.

Career 1656–1672 At 20 years old, Justine suffered from a prolapsed uterus which went misdiagnosed. This painful experience motivated her to become educated about obstetrics,

In 1689, Siegemund travelled from The Hague to Frankfurt on Oder, and submitted her draft manual to the Frankfurt on Oder medical faculty, which approved her medical documentation. She had incorporated embryological and anatomical engravings from Regnier de Graaf and Govard Bidloo, which enhanced its practical utility. From April to June 1689, she protected her intellectual property stake in the volume through gaining printing privileges from the Electors of Brandenburg and Saxony, as well as the Holy Roman Emperor.

Based on careful notes that she had made during her deliveries, she published an authoritative obstetrical text titled The Court Midwife (German: Die Kgl. Preußische und Chur-Brandenburgische Hof-Wehemutter) in 1690. On 28 March 1690 the Alma Mater Viadrina certified her book. The Court Midwife was systematic and evidence-based in its presentation of possible childbirth complications, including problems like poor presentations, umbilical cord problems, and placenta previa and their management. In the textbook, Siegemund presented a solution to the delivery of a shoulder presentation, in those days an often catastrophic situation leading to the death of the baby and potentially the mother. She worked out a two-handed intervention to rotate the baby in the uterus, securing one extremity by a sling. She also is credited (along with François Mauriceau) of finding a method to deal with a hemorrhaging placenta previa by puncturing the amniotic sac.

After Siegemund's death, The Court Midwife went through numerous republications, including in Berlin (1708) and Leipzig (1715 and 1724), with modifications that included corroborative male gynecological citations. Republications in 1723, 1741, 1752 and 1756 also included accounts of the Kerger and Petermann cases.

Works Die königl[ich-]preußische und chur-brandenb[urgische] Hof-Wehe-Mutter : das ist: ein höchst nöthiger Unterricht von schweren und unrecht stehenden Gebuhrten, in einem Gespräch vorgestellet, wie nemlich durch göttlichen Beystand, eine wohl-unterrichtete Wehe-Mutter mit Verstand und geschickter Hand dergleichen verhüten, oder wanns Noth ist, das Kind wenden könne; mit einem Anhange heilsamer Arzney-Mittel und ... Controvers-Schriften vermehret .... Berlin: Rüdiger, 1723 Digital edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf.