Coronavirus Disease Brings Death without the Opportunity of Saying Goodbye

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) victims have spread worldwide, and in Japan, 1.5 million people are infected and 16,000 have died from February 2020 until the end of August 2021. The COVID-19 starts from relatively light symptoms such as cold, and then the conditions worsen rapidly in 7 to 10 days, and results in an unexpected sudden death. The major impacts of COVID-19 in the society of the COVID-19 pandemic is the implementation of social distancing strategies and isolation procedures. We cannot provide care and comfort at the end of the patient’s life, share grief with bereaved family members, and hold normal funeral ceremonies. The COVID-19 pandemic causes the absurdity of death without the opportunity of saying goodbye, and ambiguous loss occurs, and continues to cause the prolonged grief disorder. Medical personnel make efforts to prevent ambiguous loss and the prolonged grief disorder using cognitive behavioral therapy and digital transformation. We examined the COVIT-19 pandemic from the viewpoint of an emergency hospital, and showed the experience and results of COVID-19 patients in our hospital, and reconsidered the essence of grief care and bereavement care of family members who lost their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.