Wrong communication panels for perinatal loss

Abstract

In the case of obstetrics and intensive child care, the members of the medical team are the first to communicate with mourning parents about their pre- and perinatal loss. According to the national law, only doctors are allowed to report death. Our aim is to emphasize the complexity and specificity of this communication process by presenting a short case study, in which we highlight how improper, incorrect and sometimes misleading this communication can be regardless on the pain of the mourning parents. The mourning period is characterized by the vulnerability of families and very often accompanied with impulsive reactions. Tipical consolatory phrases in the post-mortem communication such as "No problem, you are able to get pregnant again and you will have a child soon!" can be especially traumatogenic. Through the presented case description we would like to emphasize how effective support can be provided by a trained specialist, and what aspects should be taken into consideration. In order to benefit from the supporting communication we collected some national and international guidelines. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(12): 1033-1036.