Provide physical contact. Try holding hands or a gentle massage. Set a comforting mood. Some people prefer quiet moments with less people. Use soft lighting in the room.
Do not be afraid to ask them how they're feeling about death and reassure them if they're worried. Be sure to comfort them if they have any concerns about what will happen to the people they care about when they pass away. Even if you have reservations, tell them it will all work out – even if you don't.
Showing empathy, offering physical touch like the above, and offering a chance to talk, are good ways to support a patient that's crying. Encourage them to think about how they want to be cared for. This may help them feel more in control, and help others understand what's important to them.
Visual or auditory hallucinations are often part of the dying experience. The appearance of family members or loved ones who have died is common. These visions are considered normal. The dying may turn their focus to “another world” and talk to people or see things that others do not see.
Hospice has a program that says that no one should have to die alone, and yet this hospice nurse is telling me to take a break? Some patients want to die when no one else is there. Hospice professionals know that companionship while dying is a personal preference.
Dying is a natural process that the body has to work at. Just as a woman in labor knows a baby is coming, a dying person may instinctively know death is near. Even if your loved one doesn't discuss their death, they most likely know it is coming.
The final stage is acceptance. Kubler-Ross described this time period as a period of calm and peace. If the dying person was able to work through previous emotional stages, they may be at a point of reflectance and embrace the end of their battle.
Often patients who are about to die will shed a single tear, and in some instances a second tear. This phenomenon known as lacrima mortis or the tear of death is a source of mystery that transcends this mortal realm.
What happens at the moment of death or in the hours before death, is generally just normal body actions. A tear is natural -- the eyes are partially open and have been for days or even weeks.
Hearing is widely thought to be the last sense to go in the dying process. Now UBC researchers have evidence that some people may still be able to hear while in an unresponsive state at the end of their life.
What is the most important thing to do during a person's last days of life?
Everyone will have different needs and wishes in their last days and hours. But there are some aspects of care you should do for all patients. These include communicating well, supporting them to make decisions about their care, maintaining hydration, managing their symptoms and medication.
Periods of rapid breathing, and no breathing for brief periods of time, coughing or noisy breaths, or increasingly shallow respirations, especially in final hours or days of life.
Feeling very sad and crying often is a very normal part of the dying process. However, feeling down or depressed most of the time is not normal. Thinking a lot about death or suicide and feeling guilty or worthless are often signs of depression. Depression is common in people who are dying and should be treated.
They concluded that the dying brain responds to sound tones even during an unconscious state and that hearing is the last sense to go in the dying process.
