The cruel financial cost of losing a child in the US

Families in the US coping with the heartbreak of miscarriage, stillbirth or infant loss must often shoulder the added burden of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

As Chelsea Johnson watched her six-year-old daughter graduate from kindergarten in May this year, she couldn’t help but also see her son. “I’m a twin mom, even though both of my twins are not here,” Chelsea, 40, explains. “Even as I mother my four living children, I recognise that I’m still mothering my son, just differently.” On April 10, 2015, Chelsea put her three-month-old twins, Christopher and Calais, down to nap at her home in Orlando, Florida in the United States. When she went in to check on them, Christopher was unresponsive.