NICU-PICU DTHS X NAMES

Now that I’ve practiced for a decade primarily seeing newborns and children, I’ve had many conversations with parents in which I have to convey the news that their child is dying.  If there is one fear common among many of these parents, it is that their child will not have lived long enough to have made an impression on anyone outside the family.  This is a particular fear among NICU parents of moribund newborns.  I try to always call the baby by their name with the intent of indicating to their parents that their newborn’s existence matters, no matter how brief that existence may be.

The removal of a name is an act of depersonalization.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines depersonalization as “the action of divesting someone or something of human characteristics or individuality.”  It is used to train soldiers and punish prisoners, in both cases with the goal of breaking down the person by distorting their sense of self.