Helping parents cope with the loss of a child

The death of a child is a devastating loss, particularly in a developed country where most childhood illness can be prevented or cured. As a community we rarely experience the death of a child, which makes it all the more difficult when we do. The grief experienced by bereaved parents is more likely to be severe, prolonged and complicated than the grief experienced by any other group. Parents talk of losing the future when their child dies.

It can be hard to know how to support a person faced with such loss, yet there is much that GPs can do.