What is perinatal hospice?
Perinatal hospice and palliative care is an innovative and compassionate model of support that can be offered to parents who find out during pregnancy that their baby has a fatal condition. As prenatal testing continues to advance, more families are finding themselves in this heartbreaking situation. Perinatal (perinatal means around the time of birth) hospice incorporates the philosophy and expertise of hospice into the care of this new population of patients. For parents who receive a terminal prenatal diagnosis and wish to continue their pregnancies, perinatal palliative care helps them embrace whatever life their baby might have, before and after birth. This support begins at the time of diagnosis, not just after the baby is born. It can be thought of as “hospice in the womb” (including birth planning and preliminary medical decision-making before the baby is born) as well as more traditional hospice and palliative care after birth (if the baby lives longer than a few minutes or ho
