Customer Reviews

Grave Words: Notifying Survivors About Sudden, Unexpected Deaths

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I applaud the work that went into this book from the standpoint of how widespread the author's subject matter stretched. From a chaplain's perspective who has worked in an ER for several years, I found its content refreshing, especially coming from an physician. It is my experience that many doctors have trouble in breaking bad news. Grave Words gives many good ideas for different kinds of situations and specific pathways that one could integrate into their setting. I have given copies to my ER head nurse, the Trauma Specialist and to the Trauma Surgeons in my center. It had served to bridge our discussions around family care. I reccommend it to any professional who deals with death and bad news on a regular basis.

I am the director of a university counseling center and have had to perform survivor/family notification several times. I welcome Dr. Iserson's book (really a manual)as there is, to my knowledge, no other comprehensive guide to handling this task. I know I had to improvise on the occasions I have been called upon to perform this function. By luck, what we did followed his guidelines; I can also say that our university staff grappled with many of the issues he discusses, albeit without his guidance. He provides detailed suggestions and checklist type guides for many types of situations. The guidance he provides serves two functions: First, to prevent terrible mistakes or oversights from occuring; second, to provide the professional with some comfort that the best response to terrible events has been made. I strongly recommend this work to individuals who, through their professional roles, may find this task thrust upon them, or to the general reader who desires some guidance against the day that the reader may be called upon to do this. His suggestions are mainstream, compassionate, and provide guidance in handling many variables in these situations.