Neonatal death and parents' grief - Experience, behaviour and attitudes ofSwedish nurses

The aim of the present study was to survey the experience, behaviour and at titudes of nurses in Swedish neonatal wards towards parents who refuse or a re reluctant to see. touch or hold their dying or dead baby. A questionnair e was distributed to 173 nurses, of whom 144 responded. The questionnaire c ontained questions about the nurses' own experience of such situations, the ir behaviour, and their attitude towards influencing the parents. Seventy-f our percent answered that they had experience of such situations, 59% that they often tried to persuade or in other ways influence the parents to chan ge their mind, and 60% were of the opinion that the parents mourning-proces s is always facilitated when they touch or hold their dead baby. Most nurse s (83%) were of the opinion that the conflict between beneficence and auton omy was difficult but not impossible to solve. A majority of the nurses wer e inclined to give priority to the principle of beneficence. But is this in clination ethically justified? A well-founded answer to this question requi res more knowledge about the experiences of parents who have lived through such traumatic situations.