Louisiana’s Angel’s Law calls for expanded bereavement care for families who lose an infant

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A new Louisiana law calls for hospitals with maternity or neonatal intensive care units to train staff in bereavement care, provide access to a cooling device and connect families with grief counseling and support. The law gives families more time with their babies after a loss.

Why time with a baby can be short

Megan Fussell, a bereaved mother and a nurse at St. Tammany Health System, said her son, Taylor, was born without kidney development. She delivered him at 37 weeks.

Fussell said she went into labor and her son “lived for a little over an hour.”

Fussell said she had one day with her son after his death.

After a baby dies, natural changes happen quickly, which can shorten the time families have together. Cooling slows those changes and gives families more time for holding, photos and footprints.

In the past, that often meant ice packs tucked in blankets.

“You were not only holding your child, but you were also holding the bulky, cold ice packs as well,” Fussell said.

New small bedside cooling devices now give families more time together.

Families describe the added time

Sarah Montreuil lost her daughter, Faith, when Faith’s heart stopped at 22½ weeks.

“And we didn’t think that was going to be the day that we had to say goodbye,” Montreuil said.

Montreuil said the time with her daughter was important to her and her family.

“That gave us that time… to study her features, to just hold her, to love her, for our parents to meet her,” Montreuil said.

Kristi Lamarque-Bordelon, a bereavement nurse navigator for St. Tammany Health System, said she had less time with her daughter, Angelle, whom she lost almost 28 years ago.

“I did get one picture and one curl from her hair… and that is still so very precious to me,” Lamarque-Bordelon said.

How Angel’s Law came about

Lamarque-Bordelon took her message to Louisiana lawmakers in September 2025.

“And what can we do better? And my heart just said, we need, we need better,” she said.

The state passed Angel’s Law in 2026. It is named for Lamarque-Bordelon’s daughter.

“We got all yeses,” Lamarque-Bordelon said.

The law also authorizes the Louisiana Department of Health to seek grants and donations to financially support the initiative.

The department said the initiative has reached a milestone.

“Currently, all of those facilities have at least one cooling device in their facility for use,” said Jordan Losavio, assistant secretary for the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office on Women’s Health and Community Health.

St. Tammany Health System’s role

Joan M. Coffman, CEO of St. Tammany Health System, said Lamarque-Bordelon has advocated to expand the system’s existing program.

“One of our very own nurses, Kristi Lamarque-Bordelon, really has been the advocate to expand our existing program, reach out to Senator Patrick McMath, and allow him the opportunity to take this statewide, which is exactly what he did,” Coffman said.

Coffman said the system’s perinatal bereavement team includes staff from several disciplines.

“We couldn’t do it obviously without our nurses, our physicians, and certainly our chaplains who really are the trifecta of that bereavement team for our perinatal bereavement program,” Coffman said.

Lamarque-Bordelon’s goal

Lamarque-Bordelon said families have thanked her for the time the work has given them.

“When I know that a family is like, ‘Thank you, because of this, I got to make the memories with my baby.’ You know, it’s not about me,” she said.

Montreuil said the time she had with Faith still matters to her.

“It still gives me peace knowing that we had the time that we wanted to have. We were able to do it on our own terms in a way,” Montreuil said.

Lamarque-Bordelon and the mothers hope Angel’s Law will give other families more time to hold, love and say goodbye.

Lamarque-Bordelon said her goal is to make Angel’s Law the foundation of perinatal bereavement care nationwide.

To connect with Lamarque-Bordelon, you can find her on Instagram at bereavementnursekristi.

To learn more about what’s happening nationally in bereavement care, visit wingsnationalact.org.

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