Joe Miller provided care for a patient who had been in a motor vehicle collision in which the patient was the driver. During this collision, her seven-year-old grandson, whom the patient was raising, passed away from the injuries he sustained. Joe identified this patient's complicated grief pattern and provided extraordinary compassionate care. Through the rapport that Joe established with the patient and family, he identified that the patient was experiencing complicated grieving related to her grandson's death. The patient's family felt like she would be unable to progress from the tragic situation unless she was able to attend her grandson's funeral. The patient was not medically able to return home and would have to go to a nursing rehabilitation center after discharge for an undetermined amount of time. Joe developed the idea of bringing her grandson's body for a viewing so that she could begin to grieve. Joe pulled together a team to help develop a plan to bring the patient's grandson's body to the hospital for viewing.
Joe then discovered that the funeral home that was caring for the grandson's body would be able to bring him to Vidant Medical Center for a viewing for the patient. Joe's empowerment as a nurse at VMC permitted him to be the facilitator between the organization and the patient's family. Joe had such a close connection with the patient and family he coordinated the date and time of the viewing. The ethical dilemma was two-fold. The first was managing the patient's grief in the best manner to support the patient's cultural, emotional and spiritual needs. The second was being able to bring a deceased body from a funeral home into the hospital. Joe and the team were able to reserve a special use room in Vidant Medical Center's palliative care unit. This room is called the butterfly room. It was chosen because of the peaceful environment that the room offered, the gardens that the room opened up to, the large size of the room to accommodate family and the ability of the funeral home to navigate discretely in order to protect the family's privacy.
The funeral home brought this patient's grandson and the patient was escorted to the unit while being monitored by a nurse due to the medications that were being infused. The patient's entire family was able to be together as they grieved over the loss of such a young family member. The following day the patient was provided an iPad through the Office of Patient and Family Experience so that she was able to view her grandson's funeral. Through Joe's autonomy and utilization of resources, the patient and family were able to be together to say goodbye to their grandson in a manner that met the individual's unique needs.