When a woman gives birth and the baby is stillborn, is there a standard hospital procedure for dealing with this situation?
by 
Sheriff Raff -Answerhag
ANSWERS: 5
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yes
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I believe they actually let the parents see and hold the baby before they bring him/her to the morgue. I have a friend who had a stillborn at full term and that's what they did with her. She said she was glad that she was able to hold her and at least talk to her and see what she looked like. I don't know if they do that all of the time, I just know they did it with her.
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Yes, for most hospitals. Some do a better job than others. The small to medium sized hospitals tend to do better than the huge baby factories. They use some sort of color coded indicator next to the patient's name/room on the whiteboard at the nurse's station. This notifies all of the staff to be sensitive to the fact that the parents are likely devastated. The staff is to sense the parent's wishes or kindly inquire. Some want to hold the baby, others don't. Some want pictures, others don't. The staff is trained to treat the family with the utmost respect, care, and consideration. They just lost their precious baby.
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Most hospitals have a set of actions to follow including letting the parents visit with the baby, dress and hold the baby (some hospitals now have a professional photographer available for these moments too), sending in a grief counsellor, and having the mother recover in a room away from the post-partum unit (though beleive it or not, some woman who give birth to still borns are still on the P.P. unit roomed with women who are caring for thier new babies).
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each hospital has it's own rules for how the situation should be handled, some are better, more compassionate, better informed than others.
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