Do doctors often attend patients’ funerals?
A study reveals GPs often do, while oncologists are the least likely to show up at a service
Almost three-quarters of GPs have been to a patient’s funeral, according to a literature review, showing they lead the way on service attendance among specialties.
Overall though, going to a patient’s funeral is the “least preferred” bereavement practice among doctors, in the study led by Associate Professor Laurence Weinberg, an anaesthetist at the University of Melbourne.
Clinicians answer or make phone calls, attend family meetings and send condolence cards, but attending funerals is an uncommon practice, the authors said.
The review included 18 studies from the US, Canada, Australia, Israel and Ireland, carried out between 1990 and 2017, as well as editorials and letters.
