Support After a Child Dies

Parents aren’t supposed to experience the passing of their child.   When a child dies, a family experiences disbelief and the raw emotions of grief.  How do they cope?  Family members who have experienced this loss firsthand share thoughts and insights of the grief journey, how the child’s death has affected their lives, and how finding support from The Compassionate Friends has helped them to survive.

If you know someone who has experienced the loss of a child, The Compassionate Friends can help.  A dear friend told me after the passing of my dear sweet son, to remember to take care of myself and to get help.  His parents experienced the loss of their son, his older brother and never got help.  He explained how they didn’t get help and how it negatively affected thier lives.
 
Call or visit their Website for more information.

• 630-990-0010 or 877-969-0010 

         (9 AM-5 PM Central or leave a voicemail)

• http://www.compassionatefriends.org

They will assemble a packet of information pertaining to your situation.

Medical Mistakes: The leading cause of accidental deaths in America

By: Christopher M Davis, Attorney At Law | Posted: 14th September 2009

Hearst Newspapers has written an extensive article about the prevalence of medical mistakes and how they are the #1 cause of accident deaths in America. You can read the story on the Seattle Post Intellingencers web site.

The article states that 98,000 people die every year from medical mistakes. This is more than the number of people killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Also, more than 99,000 patients succumb to hospital-acquired infections, and most of these deaths are clearly preventable.

Autopsy Report Questions

26 Jul 1998

Well, I paid my $20 and got the autopsy today. Excuse the typos that will appear. My hands are shaking so badly I can’t stop them. My baby’s death was declared cerebral anoxia, whatever that means. I was confused about lots of stuff (our pediatrician said he’d translate for us), but maybe you can help for some of this. They wrote “In hospital ‘brain dead’ protocol and ventilator 40 hrs. Brain swollen 430 grams. Lungs markedly congested and edematous. No petechiae and no optic nerve sheath hemorrhages. Thymus small <5 grams. No congenital anomaly identified. Values for height and weight on growth charts are within 50th percentile.” Manner of death (no big surprise): undetermined.