dying process (viewers perspective)?

Question

It has been asked, "what does it feel like to die?" My question is, What is it like to witness someone who is dying? What does it look like and how does the dying person act leading up to it?

Answer 1

Parts of this are a bit graphic. If you offend easily, don't read on.

This depends on why they die. Some people, like my mother, stop responding to things around them and gradually stop breathing. Their extremities get cold because the body is shutting down and tries to keep most of the blood in the internal organs.

My father had a violent period before his death. He thrashed around in bed and vomited blood. Finally he had a heart attack and quieted down. He then gradually stopped breathing also.

People with cancer waste away slowly. There are times the are lucid and times when they are not. Eventually they grow quiet and still and die in much the same way as the others.

Here's a link to a hospice website that tells you the symptoms of dying.

http://www.hospicefoundation.org/endOfLifeInfo/signs.asp

Answer 2

I've had a man die while I was treating him (as an EMT). He was talking, explaining how his stepson had shot him with a shotgun, very lucid, not in any real pain, then he died instantly as we moved him to place him on a backboard. It was actually instantaneous, no look of pain or anguish, he just quit talking and his mouth was open and eyes open. Immediately began CPR and did chest compressions on him for 30 minutes, all the way to the hospital and into the emergency room, as I rode on the cart. Never saw another response--found out his aorta was completely severed, so when we moved him, it came in two and he died instantly of the total lack of blood pressure.
My own guess is that he never knew anything-one second he was alive, the next he was dead, but am sure he realized he was in serious condition, though since there was no external bleeding and he was able to talk so well, he probably did not know he was going to die. Had other patients I treated that also died, but in those cases they were already nonresponsive, no pulse or respiration, several came back for a while, but never conscious. It is a sobering experience to have someone die as you try to help them.

Answer 3

As a hospice nurse I see people die every day. Everyone dies in a different way. Some simply go to sleep, some are less fortunate. Our job is pain management and symptom control. If you have a terminal illness and you are in our hospice program you will die as comfortably as we can make it for you.

Answer 4

I've been with two people when they've died. I wouldn't say that it was the same in both cases -- there's not one "way to die" that fits all. Two things that were similar in these two people: it was hard to tell when they were gone, the breaths came slower and it sometimes seemed that death had occurred but then there'd be another breath. The other similarity was the way their bodies, esp. their faces, relaxed at death.

Answer 5

When I was 20 my mother died I sat with her for 30 days and on the day she died I layed down beside her and told her mom it's ok you can rest now i'll take care of everyone with in the hour she died in my arms. The room filled with her death rattle and it was like I could feel her spirit leaving her body. She was finally at peace.

Answer 6

Don't think it will feel that good, when a body dies, blood in the artery or veins coagulates, then they collaps. Musles relax, cause incontinence of stool and urine. Immune system is down, causing massive infection....

Answer 7

lol. obviously it would depend on the mode of death and the circumstances