Sudden unexpected death: intervention with the survivors.

Sudden unexpected death is a traumatic event for surviving family and friends. When the survivors learn of their loss, they react with turmoil and disbelief. Intervention with the survivors is essential to facilitate a normal grieving process. To provide emergency staff with guidelines, we review the dynamics of grief and discuss intervention in the following six phases: contacting the survivors; arrival of the survivors; notification of death; the grief response; viewing the body; and the concluding process. We conclude with a discussion of intervention with children.