Family problems and mother’s death

Abstract

The objective of this work was to investigate the impact of the death of a mother in the family context, the respect to health rights, and the efficiency of the prenatal care in the women health care. This is a qualitative research, with adaptation of two theoretical presuppositions: the one of Imogene King, which is centered in the care and in the individuals' health and groups, and the association to the five steps used by Hill & Hansen which are concerned with the attention to the maternity centered in the family, for a social structure of the family, in order to have the interaction of the members with the community. The sample was composed of 9 families of women that had died, from 1990 to 1997. The woman's death during childbirth and the doubt regarding who was to be blamed for the event, turn the feelings into a pain that does not decrease in the course of time. The widowers interviewees had lost their wives in a period of time of one and seven years. In spite of the elapsed time, the feelings of pain and loneliness were still the same among them. The emotion at the moment of interview, the crying, the despair and anguish were also similar. Time did not take away those feelings which remain strong and alive. For the families, the pain of loss comes overloaded with anger caused by the certainty of the inequality and the disregard in the health services. They feel despised, misunderstood, and helpless facing the injustice of the death and the kind of attendance they have had.