Lesson 2 of 6 · Grief without a body and without a story
What poor care does on top of the loss
One study, and it is here because it names something people rarely say. How the loss was handled by the people around you, in the hospital and afterwards, is not a footnote to the grief. It is part of what determines how heavy the grief becomes.
If you came out of this feeling that you were badly treated, or dismissed, or moved through a corridor at speed, that is a real second injury and it is documented. It is not you being ungrateful about people who were busy.
What the research says
Documents what parents carry after stillbirth, and the part that stigma and poor treatment by care providers play in making it worse. If people handled you badly, that is a known factor and not something you imagined.
Documents the psychological consequences for parents after stillbirth, and the role that stigma and poor interactions with care providers play in making those consequences worse.
Heazell AEP, Siassakos D, Blencowe H, and others (2016). Stillbirths: economic and psychosocial consequences. The Lancet, 387(10018), 604 to 616 doi