Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 42, Issue 4 , Pages 519-529 , October 2003

The death of a child in the emergency department

  • Stephen R Knazik, DO

      Affiliations

    • Pediatric Emergency Services, Children's Hospital of Michigan, and Departments of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for reprints: Stephen R. Knazik, DO, Emergency Department, Children's Hospital of Michigan, 3901 Beaubien Boulevard, Detroit, MI 48201; 313-745-5710, fax 313-993-7166
  • ,
  • Marianne Gausche-Hill, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Little Company of Mary Hospital, Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Emergency Medical Services and the Department of Emergency Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA
  • ,
  • Ann M Dietrich, MD

      Affiliations

    • Emergency Department, Columbus Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatric Medicine, Medflight, Columbus, OH, USA
  • ,
  • Claudia Gold, MD

      Affiliations

    • Pediatric Emergency Services, Children's Hospital of Orange County, Orange, CA, USA
  • ,
  • Ramon W Johnson, MD

      Affiliations

    • Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center/Children's Hospital at Mission, Mission Viejo, CA, USA
  • ,
  • Sharon E Mace, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Emergency Medicine, Ohio State University School of Medicine, and Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA
  • ,
  • Mark R Sochor, MS, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Received 10 November 2002 ,Revised 4 April 2003 ,Accepted 13 April 2003.

References 

    References
  1. Death of a child in the emergency department, a joint statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Emergency Physicians . Ann Emerg Med. 2002;40:409–410
  2. Death of a child in the emergency department, a joint statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Emergency Physicians . Ann Emerg Med. 2002;110:839–840
  3. Sirbaugh PE, Pepe PE, Shook JE, et al.  A prospective, population-based study of the demographics, epidemiology, management, and outcome of out-of-hospital pediatric cardiopulmonary arrest. Ann Emerg Med. 1999;33:174–184
  4. Young KD, Seidel JS. Pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a collective review. Ann Emerg Med. 1999;33:195–205
  5. Iserson KV. Grave Words: Notifying Survivors About Sudden, Unexpected Deaths. Tucson, AZ: Galen Press Ltd; 1999;
  6. Schmidt TA, Tolle SW. Emergency physicians responses to families following patient death. Ann Emerg Med. 1990;19:125–128
  7. Friedman GR, Franciosi RA, Drake RM. The effects of observed sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) on hospital staff. Pediatrics. 1979;64:538–540
  8. Dubin WR, Sarnoff JR. Sudden unexpected death: interventions with the survivors. Ann Emerg Med. 1986;15:54–57
  9. Mandell F, McClain M, Reece RM. Sudden and unexpected death. The pediatrician's response. Am J Dis Child. 1987;141:748–750
  10. Resuscitation Council (UK) . In: Bereavement  editors. Resuscitation Council UK Advanced Life Support Course Manual. London, United Kingdom: Resuscitation Council (UK); 1998;
  11. Eichhorn DJ, Myers TA, Mitchel TG, et al.  Opening the doors: family presence during resuscitation. J Cardiovasc Nurs. 1996;10:59–70
  12. Doyle CJ, Post H, Burney RE, et al.  Family participation during resuscitation: an option. Ann Emerg Med. 1987;16:673–675
  13. Hamilton GC. Sudden death in the ED: telling the living [letter]. Ann Emerg Med. 1983;17:382
  14. Boie ET, Moore BP, Brummett C, et al.  Do parents want to be present during invasive procedures performed on their children in the emergency department? A survey of 400 parents. Ann Emerg Med. 1999;34:70–74
  15. Smialek Z. Observations on immediate reactions of families to sudden infant death. Pediatrics. 1978;62:160–165
  16. Bereavement Practice Guidelines for Health Care Professionals in the Emergency Department . NASW and HRSA (MCHB) EMSC under HRSA contract 98-MCHB-75AAB. Washington, DC: Health Resources and Services Administration; 1998;
  17. Rosen P, Honigman B. Life and death. In:  Rosen P editors. Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. St. Louis, MO: CV Mosby; 1983;p. 5
  18. Everly GS, Mitchell JT. A Primer on Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). Ellicott City, MD: The International Critical Incident Stress Foundation; 2002;
  19. Everly GS, Mitchell JT. Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM). A New Era and Standard of Care in Crisis Intervention (Innovations in Disaster & Trauma Psychology Series No. 2). Ellicott City, MD: Chevron Pub Corporation; 1997;
  20. Ontario Multifaith Council on Spiritual and Religious Care . Multifaith Information Manual. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Ontario Multifaith Council on Spiritual and Religious Care; 1995;
  21. Medical consultants on the diagnosis of death to the President's Commission for the study of ethical problems in medicine and biomedical and behavioral research: guidelines for the determination of death . JAMA. 1981;246:2184–2186
  22. Frader J, Thompson A. Ethical issues in the pediatric intensive care unit. Pediatr Clin North Am. 1994;41:1405–1421
  23. Sadler AM, Sadler BL, Stason EB. The uniform anatomical gift act: a model for reform. JAMA. 1968;206:2501–2506
  24. Sadler AM, Sadler BL, Stason EB. Transplantation and the law: progress toward uniformity. N Engl J Med. 1970;282:717–723
  25. Levin DL, Farrell MM, Staworn D, et al.  Brain death in the pediatric patient: historical, sociological, medical, religious, cultural, legal, and ethical considerations. Crit Care Med. 1993;21:1951–1965
  26. Brown JE, Hamilton GC. Breaking bad news: notifying the living of death. In:  Tintinalli JE,  Kelen GD,  Stapczynski JS editor. Emergency Medicine: A Comprehensive Study Guide. 5th ed.. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill; 2000;p. 1934–1938
  27. Honigman B, Armstrong J. Life and death. In:  Rosen P,  Barkin R editor. Rosen's Emergency Medicine Concepts and Clinical Practice. St. Louis, MO: Mosby Yearbook; 1998;p. 197–212
  28. Walters DT, Tupin JT. Family grief in the emergency department. Emerg Clin North Am. 1991;9:189

 Author contributions: SRK designed the outline and collected individual author submissions. AMD, CRG, RWJ, SEM, and MRS researched and contributed significant sections of the final paper. MG-H contributed ideas, references, coordination, editing, and mentoring. SRK drafted the manuscript. All of the authors contributed substantially to its revisions. SRK takes responsibility for the paper as a whole.The authors report this study did not receive any outside funding or support.

PII: S0196-0644(03)00424-4

doi: 10.1067/S0196-0644(03)00424-4

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 42, Issue 4 , Pages 519-529 , October 2003