Working as a nurse can be a very rewarding job; however, painful goodbyes are always apart of the process. These nurses share the creepiest things their patients have mumbled right before dying.
“I asked how she was doing and she replied by…”
“Checked in on a patient before the end of my shift and she was in good spirits, had been joking with me the whole time. Her condition was tenuous (new trach) but she had been positive throughout. I asked how she was doing and she replied by singing “The old gray mare ain’t what she used to be” and wished me a good night. I came in the next morning and she had coded and died overnight.” Source
“I’ve seen some sh*t, but that was the worst.”
“I’m an RT and had a vented trach patient in angio have a pulmonary artery rupture. Vent waveforms got a little funky showing she needed suctioned. I walked up to her and saw bright red blood just start shooting up the vent circuit and immediately obstruct it. I immediately said ‘she’s hemorrhaging’ and the vascular surgeon said ‘no it’s just a little blood’ thinking I was referring to his access site in her groin. I popped her off of the vent and blood just started pouring out of her trach, mouth, and nose. She looked at me and said ‘just let me die.’ The puddle of blood was about 6 feet in diameter on the floor within just a couple of minutes and I was covered from the chest down. I’ve seen some sh*t, but that was the worst.” Source
“I thought it was so sweet because he had not…”
“I’m a nurse and was previously working at an assisted living community on the dementia/Alzheimer’s unit. My very favorite patient had been declining pretty steadily so I was checking on him very frequently. We would have long chats and joke around with each other, but in the last two weeks of his life, he stopped talking completely and didn’t really acknowledge conversation directed at him at all. I finished my medication rounds for the evening and went to see him before I left. I told him I was leaving for the night and that I’d see him the following day, and he looked me in the eyes and smiled SO genuinely and said, ‘You look like an angel.’ I thought it was so sweet because he had not seemed lucid in weeks. He died the next morning. It really messed with me.” Source
“He just made himself comfortable.”
“Nurse here – had a patient come into the ER with shortness of breath. He started deteriorating in the ER, and then quite rapidly on the transport up the ICU. We got him wheeled into his room, replaced the ER lines and tubes with our own, and transferred him from the transport stretcher to his ICU bed. He actually did most of the transfer himself. He didn’t say anything, but just before he died he pleasantly adjusted his own pillow, laid his head down, and then his eyes went blank. This man just made himself comfortable before laying down to die.” Source
“It was how he said it.”
“Get home safe, little one.” It wasn’t what he said – he said the same thing to me any time I had him as a patient for the evening. It was how he said it. He gave me this look and pause like he knew. The DNR’s in my experience, always know when it’s time. It’s creepy.” Source
“He was quiet for sometime…then he said…”
“Cardiac ICU: Had a gentleman who was DNR on comfort care. He was demented and was cursing like a sailor. He seemed to have moments of clarity and would ask to see his brothers (who were both passed). After a particularly worrisome heart rhythm, he went back into a Sinus tachycardia and look me in my eyes and said “Hey, whats your name?” “Kabc” “What do you do here?” “I’m a nurse.” After this, he was quiet for some time… then he said… “F*ck you.” And then he died about 20 minutes later.” Source
“He suddenly became quite again and I noticed…”
“I found one of my “comfort measures only” patients standing at the side of his bed. It surprised me because he had been mostly unresponsive during my shift. I helped him back into bed and he asked me why all these people were in his room. He suddenly became quite again and I noticed he wasn’t breathing. He was a DNR so there wasn’t anything to do to try to bring him back. Looking back he may have been talking about me and the CNA that was helping me get him back into bed, but who knows what or who he was seeing the last minutes of his life. Still creeps me out a little when I think about it.” Source
“She would alternate between grasping for things not there and trying to…”
“DNR patient was on comfort cares. Was on a high dose of morphine and hallucinating. She would alternate between grasping for things not there and trying to climb out of bed. She was too unsteady to walk so my job was to sit in the room and make sure she was safe. She tried to get up and I went to ask her what she needed. She grabbed my arm and pulled me down towards her face and said, very angrily, ‘kill me.’ That one f*cked with me for awhile.” Source
“I’ll see you next week boys.”
“I’m an apprentice funeral director. We went to a nursing home on a removal and as we were walking down the hall one of the patients got antsy and opened the door to his room and saw us walking with the stretcher. ‘I’ll see you next week boys.’ And guess who we had to pick up the next week.” Source
“Hospice nursing is an island unto itself.”
“I was a hospice nurse for many years. Super gratifying job for a nurse, surprisingly. As a “regular” nurse, you are rarely offered thanks. Hospice nursing is an island unto itself. Mostly peaceful, lots of times sad, often a blessing. This is sad, but also creepy, and I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it. Had a 20 year old kid, gang member, who was dying of primary liver cancer. Super unusual, aggressive, and terminal. He was angry at the universe. His family was there to comfort him, but he literally spit in their faces. Every ounce of energy he had left was angry and mean and ugly. His mom would beg him to lighten up and accept Jesus into his heart. He would swing at her and tell her to eff herself. The family remained beside, in hopes he would chill out at the end. His last day, hours, moments, he was angry. The family called me into the room, and told me they thought he was going (he wasn’t responding, Cheyne-Stokes breaths, eyes glossy and skin cold–the end was imminent.) His lovely mother, in her dearest attempt, whispered to him to go towards the light, to her Jesus. With his dying breath he opened his eyes, looked at her and said “Eff your Jesus!!!”. A second or two later, he slowly turned his head to the left, and got the most horrific look on his face as if he was looking at something we couldn’t see. Horrified, like in a bad movie, his face contorted, and he screamed with his last breath, eyes wide, “Oh sh_t, oh sh_t, OH NOOOOOOO!!!!”, then made a gutteral noise and promptly fell back into the bed and died. Every family member was shaking and too frightened to speak, and I left the room and took two days off. I don’t care if I never find out what he saw.” Source
“He was screaming…”
I worked a bank shift in A&E a few months ago. A young man was in a horrible car crash, his face was covered in blood and had a compound fracture of his clavicle but conscious, he was screaming ‘don’t tell me she’s dead, where is she???’ before succumbing to his injuries an hour later. His girlfriend had died instantly in the crash.” Source
“Bill’s here love, I’ve got to go.”
“I’m an RN and while I was a student I was caring for a lady who had end stage renal failure, had a DNAR and was shutting down. We were having a little chat, well I was chatting away while helping her put on some lotion, when she stopped, looked over my shoulder and said ‘Bill’s here love, I’ve got to go’ and swiftly stopped breathing. Read her old notes and Bill was her deceased husband.” Source
“That room creeped me out for a long time after that.”
“A nice old lady who told my CNA she wanted to wear all white. When asked why, she said “the man in black is here.” She looked in the corner of the room. The CNA looked, but there was no one there. That’s when I came into the room. We asked her to describe what she was seeing and she said “he’s in all black, and he’s got a top hat on.” Then she whispered “and his eyes are red” while her eyes moved across the room to directly behind the CNA, like she was watching him move closer to us. She died later that night. But it was unexpected. That room creeped me out for a long time after that.” Source
“As we were working on him, he looks up and says…”
“Working in the ICU and a elderly guy came in with sepsis. As we were working on him, he looks up and says “Yeah, that’s it” and promptly codes, we did not get him back.” Source
“Why is this happening to me?”
“I work in a cardiac ICU. We had a patient who had a pulmonary artery rupture (a rare, but known complication of a Swan-Ganz catheter). One minute he was joking around with us and the next bright red blood was spewing out of his mouth. His last words before he died were ‘why is this happening to me?’ It still haunts me years later.” Source
“She looked at me, took my hand and said…”
“My first hospice case. She was on morphine and started mock smoking. She looked at me, took my hand and said “please” in the most pleading voice I’ve ever heard. I sat with her body until the coroner arrived. She has no friends or family. Only her lawyer showed up. I’ve only done one hospice case since.” Source
“My patient was gasping for air and saying…”
“I was a brand new nurse, couple months out of school. My patient was gasping for air and saying “Help me, help me” and I was looking into his eyes, then he stopped breathing. Did CPR for an hour or so, but couldn’t bring him back.” Source