Introduction

Beginning to deal with the death of a child, particularly after the body has been traumatised, can be overwhelming both for parents and carers. In recent years, more has been written about this catastrophic experience from the parents', siblings' and family's viewpoint. Much less is written about the trauma team's experience. Ahmedzai (1982) highlighted how doctors in training are unsupported and ‘out on a limb’, and how they are neglected by consultants when caring for dying patients.

This chapter will review work on caring for everyone involved in the death of a child, particularly when this is sudden and traumatic.

You may ask why we need actively to intervene at all. For thousands of years the human race has dealt with death. Bereavement is listed in the Holmes and Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale (1967) as the most stressful life event. The significance of the loss of a child produces the strongest pain (Sanders, 1980) and the most widespread reactions. Raphael (1985: 229) focused on the reason for this: