We are delighted to announce the winners of this year’s Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness Book Prize are Professor Kate Reed, Julie Ellis and Elspeth Whitby for their book, Understanding Baby Loss: The sociology of life, death and post-mortem.

This book offers a detailed and sensitive account of how parents experience different forms of baby loss, and subsequently make decisions about post-mortem examination.  It also analyses some of the challenges professionals face when working in this highly sensitive field of medicine.  It draws on data from an ESRC award-winning UK based study on the development of minimally invasive post-mortem to examine a range of sociologically pertinent issues relating to: ‘trauma’ ’emotions’, ‘decisions’, ‘care’ ‘technology’ ‘memory’ and the role of ‘social and biological relationships’.  By shedding light on this taboo aspect of healthcare, the book provides a highly original contribution to sociology, offering a comprehensive analysis of some of the most pressing concerns in the field to date.

The Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness (FSHI) Book Prize of £1,000 is awarded annually each September to the author(s) or editor(s) of the book making the most significant contribution to medical sociology/sociology of health and illness and having been published over the three years preceding 1st January of the year in which the award is made.

Warmest congratulations to Kate, Julie and Elspeth, and thank you to all involved.