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Understanding Baby Loss

The Sociology of Life, Death and Post-Mortem

Julie Ellis author Professor Kate Reed author Elspeth Whitby author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Manchester University Press

Published:21st Nov '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Understanding Baby Loss cover

This book offers a detailed and sensitive account of how parents experience different forms of baby loss, and subsequently make decisions about post-mortem examination. It also analyses some of the challenges professionals face when working in this highly sensitive field of medicine. It draws on data from an ESRC award-winning UK based study on the development of minimally invasive post-mortem to examine a range of sociologically pertinent issues relating to: ‘trauma’ ‘emotions’, ‘decisions’, ‘care’ ‘technology’ ‘memory’ and the role of ‘social and biological relationships’. By shedding light on this taboo aspect of healthcare, the book provides a highly original contribution to sociology, offering a comprehensive analysis of some of the most pressing concerns in the field to date.

Winner of British Sociological Association Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize 2024

CHOICE: Recommended

'By shedding light on this taboo aspect of healthcare, the book provides a highly original contribution to the sociology of emotions, medical sociology, death and dying studies and science and technology studies. It is a book that I wholeheartedly recommend to further advance understanding of perinatal bereavement and post-mortem care.'
Dr Kerry Jones, Senior Lecturer in End-of-Life Care, The Open University

ISBN: 9781526163189

Dimensions: 216mm x 138mm x 16mm

Weight: 434g

246 pages