Impact of the CFDT Perinatal Palliative Care and Bereavement Program: A Provider/Parent Panel

Parents who experienced the loss of their baby shortly after birth discuss the impact of the Perinatal Palliative Care and Bereavement Program at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

In this panel discussion, families cared for by the program, housed in CHOP’s Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment, share their feelings about what it was like preparing to deliver their baby with a life-limiting fetal diagnosis. They talk about how a coordinated Perinatal Palliative Care and Bereavement Program helped them prepare for an anticipated perinatal loss, and how the medical, nursing and psychosocial services provided at Children’s Hospital supported them through an extremely difficult time. Specialists from the Hospital briefly discuss the different roles team members provide for the pregnant patient, her partner, and their family.

The CFDT’s Perinatal Palliative Care and Bereavement Program focuses on supporting families expecting babies diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses from the point of diagnosis, throughout the pregnancy, at the time of delivery, and beyond the death of their baby.

At CHOP, obstetricians, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, neonatologists, nurses, chaplains, social workers, child life specialists and clinical psychologists are available to support families when coping with a fetal and/or neonatal death.

Our Perinatal Palliative Care and Bereavement Program offers pregnancy options counseling, prenatal care services, guidance through the medical choices available at birth, palliative care birth planning, direction and access to community resources to help with the grieving process, coordination of spiritual support, sibling preparation, family memory-making opportunities, and more.

Learn more: http://www.chop.edu/pages/perinatal-p...