Study Examines Emotional Toll of Stillbirths and Infant Deaths on Obstetricians

The July issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology included a University of Michigan Health System survey on the emotional toll of stillbirths and infant deaths. Of the 804 obstetricians who responded, three-quarters said the deaths took a large emotional toll on them personally, and nearly one in 10 considered giving up their practice.

"Our survey reveals that perinatal death has a profound effect on obstetricians, and 8 percent had considered giving up obstetrics because of the emotional difficulty of caring for patients with perinatal death," says lead author Katherine Gold, M.D., MSW, of U-M's Department of Family Medicine and Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

"We know that stillbirth and infant death are traumatic events for families; this study suggests that they are also traumatic for the physician."

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Two-thirds of physicians supported training by formal presentations or seminars, and nearly half recommended informal gatherings for physicians to discuss difficult experiences. Many respondents suggested that a meeting with bereaved parents could serve as a useful training strategy as well as a way of helping physicians cope with their own feelings about the loss.