The Primary Pediatrician's Role When a Death Occurs in a Family in One's Practice
2003; American Academy of Pediatrics; Volume: 24; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1542/pir.24-6-183
ISSN1529-7233
Autores Tópico(s)Health and Conflict Studies
Resumo1. Morris A. Wessel, MD 1. Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut Losses due to death may seem to be infrequent for children cared for by primary pediatricians because fatal illnesses occur less frequently than in former years. However, some mothers miscarry or give birth to preterm infants who fail to survive. Grandparents often die. And more often than we realize, a parent dies. During the first 10 years of their lives, 6% of children lose a parent. Children often experience other vital losses, such as uncles, aunts, cousins, siblings, playmates, teachers, and favorite recreation leaders. The highly televised deaths of individuals who children never may have met, such as Martin Luther King, Jr, President John F. Kennedy, and those killed during the September 11 terrorist attack, evoke frightening feelings among children as well as adults. Forty years ago, early in my years of pediatric practice, I was surprised to observe during pediatric prenatal conferences that women and men frequently became tearful when discussing family medical histories and deaths of loved ones that took place during their childhood. One woman recalled: “I was 4 years old when my grandmother died. I was sent to a friend’s house for the day. When I returned home in the evening, my grandmother was gone. I was very upset. It was several years before I understood what had happened to her.” Although my own father died when I was an infant, a loss that permeated my childhood and adolescence, I was slow to realize the importance of the role that I as a primary pediatrician could assume when children and adolescents in my practice experienced the death of relatives or close friends. Grieving following the loss of an important person in one’s life is not an illness that can be cured. It is, however, a major stressful experience for children and their parents. The American Academy …
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