Pregnancy check in Amcare Beijing - Horror story, stay away from this place [warning: text wall]

A co-worker went there for a pregnancy check (they are both foreigners, for what it's worth), pregnancy was around 24 weeks if I remember correctly. During the ultrasound they found that the umbilical cord was around the neck of the fetus, which as much as is a fashion in China to say that it's dangerous, from what I have been told by reputable doctors and from what I have researched, it's actually a non-issue. Especially if it's so early, since the fetus is so small, the cord is very long, it wraps and unwraps all the time.

Anyway, from some stupid reason this seems to be a big issue in China. Don't get me started on all the pregnancy non-issues that are issues in China, e.g. the head is too big, the head is too hard, must get rid of pets while pregnant, don't you dare wear sandals even in summer, radiation clothing, and many more. Anyway, coming back to the cord (non) issue, it usually means that they scare the mother saying that a C-section will be necessary. Completely wrong, but oh well, a C-section is not the end of the world after all.

In Amcare, however, they took this to unparalleled levels. The woman doing the ultrasound tells the mother that this is very serious, that if she feels the fetus moving and suddenly stopping, she should run to the hospital. Also, if she feels the fetus not moving and suddenly moving, she should also run to the hospital (I kid you not). The mother then asks what happens if the cord stays like this and doesn't unwrap. The answer? "The fetus will die". Now just stop for a second and imagine the mother's feelings at that moment.

I believe further comments are unnecessary, but I'll go ahead anyway: fuck them. I mean, just look at their logo, it's a ripoff of the United Family one. Really? Seriously? Also, look at the pictures of the newborns on the wall, there are very few to no foreigners, it's not a foreign hospital at all, they are just trying to pretend to be one with an English name.

Needless to say, my recommendation is United Family, all the way. It is more expensive, yes, especially if you have to end up with a C-section, it's quite a lot of money, but 1) it's your son/daughter's birth after all, it's only going to happen very few times in your life, you really want to make sure you have the best care. And 2) I am not 100% on how much you can leverage this, but United Family has some sort of mission statement or something like that where it says that if your life or any of your limbs are at risk, they will provide assistance no matter whether you can pay or not. As an example of this, our son was born 6 weeks premature, and before the birth the doctors told us that he should be fine, but he may need some time in intensive care, maybe one or two weeks. Intensive care for a newborn costs... brace for this... 50k RMB PER DAY! But it wasn't for sure, he may need a few days, a week, two weeks, or even no time at all. We thought about it for very long, we kept asking questions, we told them that we didn't have insurance and were paying by ourselves, we considered going to a public hospital. At one point, a girl from financial department came into our room and she said "Don't worry, the director of the hospital will not allow for you to leave unhappy". Again, I am not sure how much you can count on this, and finally our son didn't need any time at all in IC so we couldn't verify it, but yeah, I think that in case of emergencies that result in prohibitive costs, you might not have to pay.

TL;DR During a routine ultrasound check, Amcare told a mother whose pregnancy was progressing perfectly that her fetus was going to die. Steer very, very clear of this place.