Experiencing Death: An Insider's Perspective

Comments · 481

• TR

  @trishfitzpatrick2066 · 6 years ago

  As a nurse in a critical care area I was at a number of bedsides when patients &quot;passed&quot;. In the middle of the night one sad patient went into cardiac arrest. A team arrived swiftly, she was given the traditional medications which strengthen heart function, intubated and connected to a machine to breath, jolted a number of times with increasing power... nothing.<br><br><br>The ER doctor and I were resigned because this young woman was already in terrible health and by her own hand. She was a severe alcoholic with a very damaged liver. She lived on the streets in brutal weather surrounded by an unfeeling city. We had treated her a few times in the past... this was her last trip.<br><br><br>I had a very new nurse under my wing that night. &quot;Debbie&quot; was a timid and nervous sort... at times I wondered why, for GOD&apos;S SAKE she had chosen this kind of nursing. She was quite unnerved by this &quot;code blue&quot; but work is work. I instructed her in &quot;death care&quot; which was basically to clean the deceased, place in a paper shroud with a proper toe tag ID, and straighten the room in case the family arrived... not really expected in this case, though.<br><br><br>Our sad young dead patient had long abandoned her friends and family. No one ever visited or called to ask her condition though we&apos;d been caring for her a good long time.<br><br><br>&quot;Debbie&quot; looked like she wanted to quit... hey, we ALL feel that way sometimes. But I handed her the &quot;death pack&quot; and literally shoved her towards the dark room. I, meanwhile, had to call the deceased&apos;s attending doctor to inform him of the ER doctor&apos;s death certification. <br><br><br>No one wants to get a call at 2 am but the doc thanked me and then hung up to inform whomever was listed as the &quot;next of kin&quot;. I put down the phone and started the endless paperwork.<br><br><br>Twenty minutes passed and &quot;Debbie&quot; appeared behind me. I thought she had a question... she just stood there looking pop eyed. I actually had to shake her a bit to get her to talk.<br><br><br>&quot;She&apos;s NOT DEAD!!&quot; &quot;Debbie&quot; was practically vibrating.<br><br><br>Okay, &quot;death care&quot; is creepy. I told her to take a breath, sit down for a minute, and then GET THE DAMN JOB DONE!! But she wouldn&apos;t. She insisted that the patient was breathing.<br><br><br>Right. People refer to it as a &quot;death rattle&quot; but the truth is very mundane. In a code, the lungs are much more inflated than in ordinary respiration. We&apos;re actually shoving air in under force. After death, the air is still present for quite a while and when you turn the person over, that air is forced up through the airway, producing what sometimes sounds like a gasp.<br><br><br>But &quot;Debbie&quot; had my arm in a vise grip and she was dragging me into the darkened room. Alright, already! &nbsp;I marched &quot;Debbie&quot; up to the bedside. The patient was turned away so I took her shoulder and turned her flat. &quot;NOW LOOK!&quot; I directed &quot;Debbie&quot;. <br><br><br>And the deceased person opened her eyes and looked.<br><br><br>I have NEVER been so shocked at anything as that. &quot;Elaine&quot; not only looked right at me but she blinked a few times. I stuttered something incredibly stupid like &quot;How are you doing?&quot; &quot;Elaine&quot; whispered clearly, &quot;Okay&quot;. Oh shit.<br><br><br>I ran out of the room like I was on fire and called the ER doc. I gave &quot;Debbie&quot; a savage look that directed her to stay with &quot;Elaine&quot; and very reluctantly she returned to the scene of our crime. HOW could we have missed this?!!<br><br><br>While I was waiting on the phone, I was ripping through the chart looking for all the cardiac pattern printouts. There was NOTHING. The code had produced zero effect on the patient. There were forty minutes of what&apos;s called &quot;agonal rhythm&quot; otherwise known as &quot;death throes&quot; as the electrical function shuts down for the last time. NOTHING else. No breathing, no heart beat, and pupils non-reactive... in other words D.E.A.D.<br><br><br>&quot;What&apos;s up?&quot; Yeah... BAD news doc. What do I do with an incorrect &quot;time of death&quot;? &quot;WHAT THE HELL?!&quot; He ran up to the ward with the same pants on fire urgency I had. Now, the two of us had to have a most unfortunate conversation about which of us got to call her attending doctor with this startling news. I refused. After all, HE filled out the death certificate.<br><br><br>The attending was PISSED. Naturally, it was assumed that we had botched this and now HE had already notified the next-of-kin. They had to be UN-notified, so to speak. Ouch.<br><br><br>What the hell were we supposed to do? This young woman was NOT a liver transplant candidate. Her system was in slow motion shut down for the weeks of her care. She had never regained consciousness after being found in an alley. There was no life path. None.<br><br><br>I asked if we should try to start an IV or get O2 started. The ER doc was very kind and stood at the bedside asking &quot;Elaine&quot; if she wanted anything done. No. Nothing. <br><br><br>We took turns sitting with her for the remainder of shift to monitor this startling situation. &quot;Elaine&quot; said she wished her family was there but I had no contact information beyond the &quot;next-of-kin&quot; and the phone number just rang without answer.<br><br><br>Needless to say, this patient attracted A LOT of attention. People were respectful and quiet... &quot;Elaine&quot; didn&apos;t seem to mind. Then, they arrived. The family.<br><br><br>&quot;Elaine&quot; did pass away later the next day. But the entire extended family and everyone who&apos;d ever knew her it seemed waited patiently to sit with her. She talked with all of them but her strength was strained to the max and all visitors had to basically put their heads on the pillow next to her face as she whispered words of apologies and such. A funeral with a live guest of honor. Weird.<br><br><br>When her time did come, she smiled at them all and closed her eyes with such a peaceful expression that it hushed the mob for what seemed an eternity. I&apos;ve heard of Near Death Experiences. Perhaps it is just my desire to think it possible. But &quot;Elaine&quot; had been sent back for a mission. She got the job done. Clearly, she wanted to leave at the end. I never forgot her.

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• JN

  @JNeil1975 · 8 years ago

  I&apos;m glad the lady sharing her story is an educated surgeon........and they cannot treat her like she&apos;s uneducated.

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• BR

  @bridgettegumina9528 · 5 years ago

  I believe consciousness exists beyond the brain.

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• SA

  @sahm7899 · 8 years ago

  The neurologist is going to have such a surprise when he dies.

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• CA

  @carolv2161 · 8 years ago

  “Wizards and castles...?” NO. He’s pissing me off with his pompousness.

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• JI

  @Jimmyjewels · 12 years ago

  some truths are beyond the ego and doctors are full of &nbsp;ego.

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• AN

  @AnduinX · 12 years ago

  I&apos;ve heard of cases of terminal lucidity where people in their last moments are able to remember the names and faces of family members that they could not before, and hold coherent conversations again. &nbsp;I&apos;d imagine death is much the same. &nbsp;I see the brain as a filter for consciousness, not the producer of consciousness, so when it goes, your true consciousness can be experienced.

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• MI

  @mika22bballer · 7 years ago

  I will never understand how these people think they can speak about NDE when they have never experienced one. The Scientists who have, know there is something bigger happening here.

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• AD

  @addie8292 · 6 years ago

  Those who doubt simply have not been given the gift of experience, including the gracious doctors on this panel. &nbsp;Dr. Mary Neal is the most eloquent on this panel as she KNOWS.

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• JO

  @joshuavan8391 · 8 years ago

  Thank God! &nbsp;Finally a debate where people can have a discussion without insulting each other and while they may disagree can be totally civil about it and not resort to insulting the oppositions intelligence.

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• MM

  @mm669 · 7 years ago

  When I dream, I usually will dream about people in my life that are alive. &nbsp;Sometimes, I will have a strong dream with my deceased sister in it. &nbsp;I think it&apos;s telling that people that have near death experiences seem to only report encountering people that have died. &nbsp;They don&apos;t say my living husband or living child was there guiding me into the light. &nbsp;This is a big difference between dreams and near death experiences.

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• CH

  @charchar4907 · 6 years ago

  Dr Eben Alexander should be included in this panel.

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