The Long Goodbye: Hidden Histories of Baby Loss and Parental Bereavement in 20th century Ireland

A seminar by Dr Ciara Henderson (Nursing and Midwifery) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Seminar Series.

To join via zoom please use the link here.

Although perinatal mortality (late miscarriage, stillbirth, and newborn death) has been the focus of medical attention for decades, the emotional histories of those affected remains largely undocumented.

Blending testimonies from long time bereaved parents and historical sources, this paper considers how hospital protocols and clinical authority shaped parental grief through the twentieth century. By revisiting this history, the paper invites reflection on the usefulness of history in reproductive healthcare and how compassionate, patient-centred approaches to perinatal bereavement care might be informed by the lessons of the past. 

Bio
Dr Ciara Henderson is a postdoctoral research fellow at Trinity College Dublin where she currently works on post institutional models of care. An interdisciplinary researcher with an interest in connection and empathy and the ways in which responses to death are socialised, Ciara's work examines both contemporary and historic responses to reproductive mortality, from a social, theoretical and policy perspective. Her doctoral thesis explored the use of funeral as an intervention in bereavement care, situating this in the broader context of the evolution of Irish mortuary rituals for adults and babies from the 19th century. She is the Science Communications Coordinator for EU COST Action National, International & Transnational Histories of Healthcare 1850 - 2000 (Euro Hist Health CA22159) and a reviewer for Mortality Journal.

Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: mslee@tcd.ie