About Us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Stillbirth is a sudden and devastating event. When an infant is stillborn, medical providers and counselors are often asked by grieving parents why it happened or if it will happen again.

Since 1983, the Wisconsin Stillbirth Service Program (WiSSP) has provided a statewide service to families who experience stillborn births and the health care providers who help those families. Over 70 hospitals across the state are affiliated with WiSSP.

Elizabeth McPherson, M.D., a medical genetics specialist at Marshfield Clinic Marshfield Center, was recently named director of WiSSP.

McPherson replaces Richard M. Pauli, M.D., Ph.D., a nationally recognized expert in stillbirth assessment and related fields. Pauli founded WiSSP and served as its director from 1983 until March 2009.

“I have known and intermittently consulted with Dr. Pauli, the founder of WiSSP, over the past 30 years. When I heard of his approaching retirement I offered to assure the continuation of the program by taking over as director,” McPherson said.

Before joining Marshfield Clinic in 2003, McPherson served at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC in Pittsburgh where she evaluated hundreds of stillbirths and pregnancy losses with the goal of providing accurate recurrence risk information to the families. Since coming to Marshfield Clinic she has continued that interest by evaluating stillbirths occurring at Saint Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield, in accordance with WiSSP protocol.

“As a medical student at the University of Washington, I had the opportunity to work with some outstanding pathologists and teratologists, or people who study the causes of birth defects,” McPherson said. “During my genetics fellowship at University of Wisconsin-Madison I also worked with Dr. Enid Gilbert-Barness, a nationally recognized fetal pathologist. Although it is saddening to see infants who have never had a chance to experience life, I have always seen it as a way to try to help understand why such things happen and hopefully how they can be prevented.”

Knowing as much as possible about the baby can help families with the grieving process.

“Parents usually treasure every piece of information about their child, which is why hospitals provide memory boxes with photographs, footprints and locks of hair,” McPherson said. “Families want to know what happened so they can be sure the baby did not suffer. They also need reassurance that the stillbirth is not their fault. Many families are altruistic and also want their child's brief life to help in understanding of causes of stillbirth and eventually to help other families avoid such losses.”

Although most families do eventually want to know why a stillbirth happened and whether it could happen again, both families and health care providers may be so focused on the immediate events that they miss the opportunity to gather information which will be needed to answer questions for parents.

WiSSP protocols are designed to help make sure that wherever a stillbirth occurs, data such as photographs and tissue samples can be collected for later evaluation. The original protocol has been applied to over 2,000 stillbirths and has led to a diagnosis in nearly 50 percent of the cases reviewed. Since the causes of stillbirth are not necessarily genetic, WiSSP protocols consider all possible causes.

“Of the causes identified, about half are birth defects and the other half are problems with the placenta or cord or issues affecting the mother's health,” McPherson said. “Even when birth defects are identified, many are sporadic events that are not likely to recur within the family.”

There is no charge for McPherson's evaluation of materials sent to WiSSP. While laboratories do need to charge for the testing they provide, this often can be billed to the mother's health insurance.

In addition to providing services to evaluate stillborn children and provide answers for families and health care providers, the Wisconsin Stillbirth Service Program maintains a resource library with information about parental bereavement as well as a Web site with useful informaton. To find out more about WiSSP or to access its resource library, go to www2.marshfieldclinic.org/wissp/index.html

The Marshfield Clinic system provides patient care, research and education with 45 locations in northern, central and western Wisconsin, making it one of the largest comprehensive medical systems in the United States.