Case management of the dying child

A parent should never have to bury a child. One of our cultural beliefs is that someone can suffer no greater loss than a child. This loss interrupts the expected cycle of life, and parents are anguished at the loss of a child who so often has embodied their hopes and dreams for the future. Because of advances in research, medical care, and technology, our cultural belief and basic supposition that "children don't die" has been heightened in recent years. This denial makes accepting death as a painful reality that much more difficult for the child, parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and even professional care providers.