Natural Miscarriage and Grief

Physicians frequently deal with natural miscarriages. In a great many of these cases, there is sadness upon hearing that a miscarriage has happened or will likely happen.

A recent case, just last week, serves as an example. A young woman had not yet miscarried, but was having abdominal pain. She was 8 wks pregnant, by history. She wanted to make sure her baby was ok. An ultrasound was done. The ultrasound showed a human being in the fetal stage of development with no heart motion. In other words, it showed a human being in the fetal stage of development which had died. The mother was told. Within a few minutes, she was in tears. Grief was upon her. Was this irrational? Was this not a proper response? She thought that her baby had died. Was she wrong? If not, we need to think twice about intrauterine homicide and intrauterine abuse.

Similarly, a few months ago, a family had a miscarriage. The living human being in the fetal stage of development was delivered in the emergency department, but too young to survive for long, being far less than 20 wks. The family called a priest. The priest baptized the human being just before it died. The family cried. The family grieved. Was this grieving inappropriate? If not, we need to think twice about intrauterine homicide and intrauterine abuse.

Daily, in emergency departments across the nation, physicians deal with women and men who cry over the natural miscarriage. Why? Because they understand and are being true to the reality at hand, even while others ignore the same realities.