A guest article by Oleksandra Balyasna from the Ukrainian parent organisation Early Birds.

Talking about pregnancy losses and child death is very complicated. It is considered to be a taboo topic in Ukraine. Discussing such a delicate topic and asking openly for a support from others is not part of the Slavic culture. Most of the mothers respectively families tend to deal with their pain by themselves, or at the maximum extend to share the trauma within the closest family.

In order to improve the support of parents who experienced loss or the diagnosis of a life-shortening disease of her baby, our organisation held advanced trainings for healthcare professionals. We recently had an event about ethical decision-making in the NICU departments and in taking care of the preterm babies. At the event we were mainly talking about infections that can cause death in the NICU like sepsis, about procedures that can minimise the risks and help both, parents and doctors. One of the key speakers was talking about ethical decision making and world practices with it. During the event representatives of organisations that deal with the topic of losses spoke about their experience and shared some international examples they follow. For example, in Kiev the Perinatal centre is quite advanced in this field and introduced a special room enabling parents and their child or children to spend the last moments together. The interior design of this room is based on international experiences and practice.

The event was attended by about 100 participants, mainly neonatologists, anesthesiologists, and parents of preterm babies.

© Early Birds

As a special programme of the evening the Life to come documentary was shown, a Belgium movie, filmed by Claudio Capanna in 2016, about two preemies that were fighting for their life during their 100 days in a NICU. People were touched by the story, the realistic images about how the mother was struggling with her feelings from one day to another and how they hovered between life and death.

Such events about ethical decisions help to improve the care for the preterm babies, make the hospitals more family orientated and also improve the communication between healthcare professionals and parents.

Special thanks to
Oleksandra Balyasna
Early Birds

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