[Terminal care for handicapped newborns and grief care for their families]

Terminal care for the handicapped newborns and the grief care for their families have recently emerged as a medical problem. Questionaires to 13 parents who lost their children showed that they were unsatisfied with the care from doctors and nurses before and after the child's death. Medical approach to grief care includes changes in the quality of medicine for handicapped newborns. A system should be created to improve the relationship between the NICU pediatricians/nurses and the staffs engaged in early intervention prior to the newborns' death, which in turn strengthen the ties with a network supporting the families who have lost their newborns.