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Perinatal autopsy rates have declined significantly in recent decades. There is a lack of consensus concerning the potential religious influences for bereaved parents in their decision making process for post-mortem. This online study of British and Irish maternity healthcare chaplains explored their understanding of general and local perinatal post-mortem procedures and their experiences in the support of parents. Participants included Christian, Muslim and non-faith chaplains. No chaplain identified any religious prohibition to perinatal post-mortem. A majority of chaplains reported that they had been asked about post-mortem by parents; only a minority felt adequately prepared. A key recommendation is that following appropriate training chaplains may be well placed to support colleagues and parents during the decision making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research indicates that the internet is used to source health-related information, including pregnancy-related information. The aim of this study was to examine websites targeted at the pregnant population and to assess the content therein relating to stillbirth and modifiable risk factors. Methods: The study was limited to websites hosted in Ireland and the UK, and results organized by provider and topic. A codebook was designed to record the information found on the websites. Data were collected on different website characteristics, and a search was undertaken for basic information related to stillbirth (prevalence, causes, procedures, consequences, etc.), and information relating to modifiable risk factors (smoking, alcohol/drug use, medicines use, sleep position, attendance at antenatal care, and weight management). Results: 92 websites were included in the study, of which 39.1% (n = 36) contained basic information about stillbirth and 29.3% (n = 27) contained information related to modifiable risk factors. Only one website (1.1%) contained all the information that was sought. Websites hosted by charities were more likely to contain basic information related to stillbirth, (39.3%, n = 11 of the 28 websites hosted by charities) whereas the commercial sites were more likely to contain information about modifiable risk factors (53.3%, n = 8 of the 15 commercial sites). Conclusion: The results of this study illustrate that websites directed at the pregnant population are a poor source for information related to stillbirth. Some stillbirth risk factors are modifiable; therefore, it is crucial that women and stakeholders can avail of reliable sources of information to make informed decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a paradox that funerals are one of the most significant end-of-life events, and yet they are rarely discussed in hospitality research. This article explores one aspect of the funeral – namely the importance of food at traditional western Christian funerals – through interviews with five UK-based funeral directors and five funeral catering providers. Exploring both the historic significance and the current importance of the funeral meal, five specific issues were examined: funeral poverty, family interactions, power relationships, financial control/power and socialization. The study not only highlights the continuing social significance of the funeral meal in Christian western society but also the unequal power relationships between the mourners and the funeral director. However, funeral directors and their catering providers are still mindful of the costs and driven by a growing concern over funeral poverty; there is an increasing awareness for both the funeral and the funeral meal to match the mourner's ability to pay. The study concludes that the format of the funeral meal needs to change to better reflect people's changing lifestyles, and outlines areas where further research is required to better understand the significance of the funeral meal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing number of companies are offering digital products and services for use in funerals. Drawing on interdisciplinary research in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, we explore how funeral directors operate as intermediaries for these digital products and services. We critically examine the popular framing of the funeral industry as a "conservative" business and examine how funeral directors actively mediate between their clients and the companies offering innovative products and services. This study provides an account of current developments in the funeral economy as well as a broader narrative about how funeral industry professionals have engaged with technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This article outlines the rationale of developing a DVD using a simulated patient to show students how to perform the last offices in the UK and what they can expect when a patient dies. Aim: This is an aspect of the curriculum that students felt was not adequately covered and they were anxious about experiencing the death of a patient for the first time. The DVD allowed a large number of students to receive extra teaching on this topic and was a time-effective way of introducing more teaching into the curriculum. Conclusion: Students felt more prepared for the death of a patient during their first clinical placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite UK national guidance on care after death, it is clear that the bereaved family can experience distress while waiting for the patient's death to be verified. This distress can escalate if there is a delay in verification. Anecdotally, such delays particularly occur out of hours and in community settings. Verification of death is a clinical task and an act of care whereby the identity of the person and death is confirmed. In addition, the subsequent providers of care to the deceased, such as families, mortuary teams, funeral directors and cremation services, have their health and safety protected by the provision of pertinent patient-specific information, for instance, infection risk and implantable devices, within the bounds of confidentiality. During this time, the bereaved family may also receive emotional support and information from the skilled clinician. Registered Nurse Verification of Expected Adult Death (RNVoEAD) guidance and associated competencies have recently been developed to ensure that the registered nurses involved in the patient's care can feel confident about their responsibilities and competent in the process of verifying death. It is hoped that this guidance will help to avoid delays that may cause additional distress to grieving families. This article sets out the rationale for the guidance, as well as discussing outstanding concerns and proposals for future considerations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From plague epidemics in Elizabethan England to cholera outbreaks in the early Victorian era, women determined causes of death for London parishes. Despite criticism about lack of medical training, parishes continued to rely upon women searchers and expanded their responsibilities during the eighteenth century while looking not to midwives and nurses but female relatives of parish workers to fill open positions. Sextonesses and pew keepers became searchers of the dead and served lengthy terms in office. Historians have assumedthat Parliament established the General Register Office to supplant searchers with medical men, acting as registrars. However, the transition away from the bills depended more upon the parish's loss of monopoly on the death business than the medical failings of women searchers. By the mid-nineteenth century, the undertaking industry managed London's dead, and undertakers, rather than medical men, replaced women searchers as reporters of cause of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissection has held a privileged position in medical education although the professional values it inculcates have been subject to intense debate. Claims vary from it generating a dehumanising level of emotional detachment, to promotion of rational and dispassionate decision-making, even to being a positive vehicle for ethical education. Social scientists have positioned dissection as a critical experience in the emotional socialisation of medical students. However, curricular revision has provoked debate about the style and quantity of anatomy teaching thus threatening this ‘rite of passage’ of medical students. Consequently, some UK medical schools do not employ dissection at all. In its place, observation of post-mortem examinations – a long established, if underutilised, practice – has re-emerged in an attempt to recoup aspects of anatomical knowledge that are arguably lost when dissection is omitted. Bodies for post-mortem examinations and bodies for dissection, however, have striking differences, meaning that post-mortem examinations and dissection cannot be considered comparable opportunities to learn anatomy. In this article, we explore the distinctions between dissection and post-mortem examinations. In particular, we focus on the absence of a discourse of consent, concerns about bodily integrity, how the body’s shifting ontology, between object and person, disrupts students’ attempts to distance themselves, and how the observation of post-mortem examinations features in the emotional socialisation of medical students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The status of funeral directors, including whether or not the industry can be considered a legitimate ‘profession’, has long been a topic of interest in this journal. Contributing to this ongoing debate, this paper considers opportunities and barriers to professional development in the UK funeral industry. In so doing, the paper makes particular reference to ‘communities of practice’ (CP), a model of situated learning. Previous research in comparable sectors has indicated that CP enhances individual and organisational performance through emphasising commitment to sharing and developing best practice within an area of common interest. Drawing on interviews with and presentations given by funeral directors/arrangers, the paper examines perceptions of performance, alongside issues of mistrust and resistance to change. Data will show that participants conveyed a situation of competing forces in terms of a hierarchical structure within the industry that perpetuates a lack of incentive to invest in education and training. At the same time, a new generation of staff is developing an alternative vision of funeral directing, which includes wider public recognition of their skills. In view of the industry’s long-standing drive for professional standing, the paper identifies the potential of CP as a means of negotiating such competing forces to provide a medium through which issues associated with regulation can be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers news briefs related to bioethics. The British Medical Association (BMA) has published a report, seeking social and political debates on policies concerning organ transplantation. In the case, Sydney Local Health Network v QY and QZ, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considers discrimination in the performance of an autopsy on the body of a HIV-positive person. The serological testing done by the Indian health sector to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) has ethical implications.

This essay examines the extent to which embalming was practiced in 18th century England. Drawing on a passage from the work "Clarissa, or the History of a Young Lady" by Samuel Richardson, that discusses a character's desire to have his dead lover embalmed, the author explores whether this was something that was based on practices of the time or was simply a macabre fantasy. The essay presents information on burial practices in general in 18th century England and discusses the practical applications that embalming likely served at the time.

Both cremation and inhumation were employed in the British Early Bronze Age, and the significance of the distinction between these practices has long been a matter of debate. Many authors have argued that the choice of mortuary treatment reflects differences in status. Inhumation burials often occupied central positions in Early Bronze Age barrows, while cremations were placed in satellite locations. In turn, the apparent gender differences between these mortuary rites - men tended to be inhumed while women were frequently cremated - is seen as indicating that women were of lower status than men. This paper will challenge this model, arguing that cremation was a strategy designed to facilitate the retention and circulation of ancestral relics by fragmenting the human body. As such, the differential treatment of men and women was not the result of status distinctions, but reflects their different positions and roles within Early Bronze Age kinship structures. In particular, the circulation of the cremated remains of the female dead played an important role in facilitating social, material and biological reproduction through the maintenance of inter-group relationships. The practice of cremation resulted in the construction of particular concepts of the self - concepts that underpinned the transformations in the technological practices and social landscapes that took place at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age. As such, women's roles in these changes must be considered afresh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In their interaction with the bereaved there is evidence to indicate that funeral directors can become the recipients of anger. While this expression can be acknowledged as a characteristic of the grieving process, analysis of the occupational role reveals a number of areas where additional conflict can be generated. This article identifies and discusses four areas. The first three are interrelated and present issues discernible in the relationship between the funeral director and the bereaved: the economic environment of funerals; the contractual relationship between the funeral director and client; and control of the funeral. The final area considers the role of funeral director as agent between the bereaved and third parties involved in achieving the funeral performance: the funeral officiant, cemetery and crematorium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study concerns a company, operating within a highly sensitive industry, which needs to adopt new planning and control procedures along with performance measures in order to ensure its long term survival. The case explores the characteristics of the UK funeral industry, and the impact of the incursion of large overseas companies on the operation of small family businesses. Porter's (1980) Competitive Strategy framework provides a vehicle for the analysis of generic strategies to secure competitive advantage when cost leadership is not a practical possibility. Product diversification and niche marketing are explored in a Teaching Note to a rewarding case, but one which may raise the emotional sensitivity of subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the course of the twentieth century the structure of the British funeral industry has changed considerably. Whilst today the family firm continues to dominate the industry, the large specialist organizations managing funerals on a centralized basis also occupy a significant position. The emergence of this type of organization can be attributed to a combination of societal and technical changes, such as the preference for cremation and the institutionalization of death. In addition, two significant problems experienced by small-scale firms have also contributed towards this shift: succession and business perspicacity. Written from the perspective of the funeral director, this article commences by surveying developments occurring in the industry during this period; an examination of current issues relating to the corporate versus independent sector then follows. Finally a number of factors are identified and discussed as likely to contribute towards the future evolution of the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the National Health Service (NHS) in Great Britain failed to take advantage of many opportunities to monitor or screen pregnant women who have stillbirths based on a review of cases. Concerns mentioned include the identification of risk factors and screening for gestational diabetes, the identification of fetal growth restriction and the response to reduce fetal movements. The review found that two thirds of women with diabetes risk were not offered testing.

Reports on an audit of documents accompanying deceased patients in hospitals in Great Britain to investigate errors or omissions. Methods; Results which found that error rates dropped during the audit; Suggestion that regular audits are necessary for a mortuary to run effectively and safely.

The article reports on the updated and revised guidance of Care After Death that was endorsed by Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Foundation which aimed for healthcare professionals like doctors and nurses, cover the areas of privacy and dignity of the deceased, organ donation, and post-mortem tests.

Focuses on the practical aspects of death in Great Britain. Estimation of finances; Changes in funeral customs; Role of funeral director.