Individuals who experience pregnancy and baby loss need your help.

250,000 miscarriages are estimated each year in the UK. (July 2023, GOV.UK). This figure is only part of a much bigger picture. Millions suffer deeply from grief and issues concerning well-being yet are treated in a healthcare system using terms that are mostly, unfeeling. 

Though medical and legal terms are necessary in healthcare settings, they neglect human emotion. Loss, for a human, is not experienced in medical/legal terms, we are sentient - we have feelings.  Despite the terms showing no empathy for what is felt and the awareness of how much distress they can cause, they are currently the only option.  

In the 21 years since losing twins, I still struggle to explain how it felt to be emotionally broken and attempt to navigate the word ‘miscarriage’. It felt unjust, inaccurate, and completely dismissive of my circumstances - I had given birth! But there would be no birth or death certificate – medically/legally, my babies were termed invalid. How did any of this make sense? 

2018 - 15 years after my loss. Someone talking about loss triggered a profound response. I realised the impact of the words associated with my loss experience.

2019 – Idea - Introduce gentler terms to communicate within the pregnancy and baby loss community.

2024 - Action idea to signpost a change 

• The Sentient Way© (sen-ti-ent)* 

Introduce via signposting tools = Card/Information leaflet/Chart to show medical/Sentient terms.

Issue at time of loss in all U.K. primary healthcare settings. 

(Intended to support existing medical/legal terms NOT replace them.)

(See Link)

Nothing can take away the pain of such experiences. However, there will always be the need to consider and adapt to more empathetic ways, or the pregnancy and baby loss community will continue to feel effects that are unnecessary, and harmful. As seen in recent research concerning the language used in clinical settings, Led by Dr Beth Malory at UCL, supported by charities, Tommy’s and Sands.

“…show very clearly that language can be harmful when someone experiencing pregnancy loss is exposed to language which does not reflect their conceptualisation of the experience and/or their baby.”

(Linguistic Challenges in Communicating about Pregnancy Loss - Dr Beth Malory UCL 2024)

I wish to appeal to those whom I believe are best placed to endorse this change, The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, The Rt Hon Wes Streeting MP and Baroness Merron, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental Health.

In your positions of significant influence, please consider this community, its scale, and the impact a visual aid, issued in primary healthcare settings that signposts additional support, empathy and gentler conversation, could potentially have on health and well-being, now and in the future. Hopefully, with consideration, the potential to benefit so many will be too great to ignore.

I have contacted my local MP, Rosie Writing and also wish to appeal to pregnancy and baby loss/mind charities**…for any help.

The Sentient Way© showing feelings matter.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aQTpPcbrhPnQzQJIH6vy9kyVABl5yo8S/view?usp=sharing