title: Stillbirth. A humanistic response.
abstract: A predictable pattern of grief follows every perinatal death. Because of their lack of training in the area of death and bereavement, physicians have traditionally avoided acknowledging the grief process in patients who have experienced such a loss. Obstetricians must begin to recognize the appropriate intervention that needs to be instituted in the delivery room and postpartum period to help facilitate the normal grieving process. Physicians must also acknowledge and accept their own feelings of grief and helplessness following a perinatal death.
mesh_terms: D000786:Anger; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D006117:Grief; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009769:Object Attachment; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011247:Pregnancy