The midwife's ultimate paradox: a UK-based study of the death of a mother

to identify the meaning of the death of a mother to the midwife providing care for her.

a qualitative study in which the fieldwork comprised mainly semistructured telephone interviews. Data were also collected by letters and e-mail correspondence.

the midwife informants are based in the UK.

because of the sensitive nature of the topic, a volunteer sample of midwives who had 'experienced' the death of a mother was appropriate. Further 'non-experienced' midwives were recruited using a snowball technique.

the midwife's experience of the death of a mother is comparable with that of emergency personnel attending large-scale disasters. It features images intruding, identifying with those involved, encountering death and being unprepared.

the midwife faces a number of psychological challenges following the death of a mother, which justify this event being considered as a disaster. The findings of implications for practice: this study suggests that there may be a need for cultural change among midwives. It is possible that changes in midwifery education and in the midwife's continuing education may facilitate this.