The important findings, along with observations of long-time palliative care doctors and nurses, show: Brain activity supports that a dying patient most likely can hear. Even if awareness of sound cannot be communicated due to loss of motor responses, the value of verbal interactions is measurable and positive.
Scientists found that the brains of "actively dying" patients in palliative care (some unresponsive, some still responsive) still registered activity in response to sounds. The patterns of activity were similar to those seen in a sample of healthy controls, suggesting that people still hear as they die.
"Our data shows that a dying brain can respond to sound, even in an unconscious state, up to the last hours of life." This new insight into the dying brain's response to sound can help family and friends bring comfort to a person in their final moments.
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. Many people who have had near-death experiences describe a sense of "awe" or "bliss" and a reluctance to come back into their bodies after being revived.
Visions and Hallucinations
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.
Many people lose consciousness near the end of life. But they may still have some awareness of other people in the room. They may be able to hear what's being said or feel someone holding their hand.
Hearing may indeed be one of the last senses to lose function as humans die.
Research suggests that even as your body transitions into unconsciousness, it's possible that you'll still be able to feel comforting touches from your loved ones and hear them speaking. Touch and hearing are the last senses to go when we die.
Brain activity supports that a dying patient most likely can hear. Even if awareness of sound cannot be communicated due to loss of motor responses, the value of verbal interactions is measurable and positive. Patients appear comforted by the sounds of their loved ones (in person and by phone).
“First hunger and then thirst are lost. Speech is lost next, followed by vision. The last senses to go are usually hearing and touch.”
An unexpected discovery made by an international team, examining the results of an EEG on an elderly patient, who died suddenly of a heart attack while the test was in progress.
Seriously ill patients encountered by hospice and palliative care clinicians are at risk for thirst due to dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, hypotension, xerostomia, and immobility which can impede access to water.
While the dying person may be unresponsive, there is growing evidence that even in this unconscious state, people are aware of what is going on around them and can hear conversations and words spoken to them, although it may feel to them like they are in a dream state.
Talking to your loved one after their death is a common experience, and many people feel that the connection goes both ways. Grief experts say these conversations can be a healthy coping tool and a source of comfort.
What happens when someone dies? In time, the heart stops and they stop breathing. Within a few minutes, their brain stops functioning entirely and their skin starts to cool. At this point, they have died.
Sam Parnia said that the patients could describe in details what happened around them. He explained that the time death is declared is the one when the heart stops beating. As the heart stops beating, it stops pumping blood to the brain and slowly the brain begins to shut down, he explains.
They Know They're Dying
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.
Decomposition begins several minutes after death with a process called autolysis, or self-digestion. Soon after the heart stops beating, cells become deprived of oxygen, and their acidity increases as the toxic by-products of chemical reactions begin to accumulate inside them.
The experience of sensing the presence of someone who has died is sometimes referred to as a “bereavement hallucination”. A hallucination is usually defined as a perceptual experience of something that is not really there.
Changing vital signs
As a person approaches death, their vital signs may change in the following ways: blood pressure drops. breathing changes. heartbeat becomes irregular.
"I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." "I wish I hadn't worked so hard." "I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings." "I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends."