Mortality
Rates Increase for Parents
After the Death of a Child
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2709971.stm
The link above takes you to a news site that reported on January 31, 2003, an article titled "Child Death Shortens Mothers' Lives." The article stated that this was a research finding published in the Lancet medical Journal.
Okay, you know how bereaved parents talk about broken hearts and just feeling like they are dying inside...well, isn't it interesting that this research found that mortality rates increase in bereaved parents after the death of a child!?! I couldn't believe it. It certainly was a finding that made sense to me on a gut instinct level, but was it true?
I sent email off to Joanne at the MISS Foundation, and sure enough, within minutes, she found the full article from the Lancet and shared it with all of us who do facilitation for MISS. Her one observation was poignant, I thought: she wondered if they had done control groups for the bereaved parents to look at how the morality rates are affected when parents seek help/support vs. when they chose to "go it alone"? I don't think they did this time. But maybe in the consequent research that comes from this study, that will be looked at. In the meantime, I think this is an amazing affirmation of *WHY* we have an ethical responsibility as a culture & society to provide long term support for bereaved parents.
Take a look a the news article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2709971.stm
And if you want a copy of the full article, email us here and we'll get it to you thru the WA State Chapter of the MISS Foundation!
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the Author
Kevin Smith fan, Lord of
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Oh yeah, and a grandma,
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