Morbid Question

[Beechy101]

If an elderly relative died at home during the night, who would you ring?

I don't mean family, i mean doctors/hospital, etc?

The doctors will obviously be shut & it obviously won't be a 999 emergency.

[tinkerbell23]

Mrs c, when i checked first time i listened with stethescope for heartbeat, looked for a pulse and shined a pen torch in the ladys eye to look for signs of any brain activity

That was all xxxx can also look for discolouration of skin etc x

[mrs.chappie]

Sorry Chris, I think we cross-posted there.

Well I for one would miss you very much Chris. I hope you don't decide to do it soon. x

[mrs.chappie]

Thanks tinks. x

[mrs.chappie]

Thanks to you too, Ratter. x

[Buenchico]

Ratter15:
If that's the only way of checking for death I hope that you don't ever inadvertently connect yourself to mains electricity (which might well stop your heart but won't, per se, kill you!).

[TonyV]

Welshi & Prudie - We new as did he death was coming - bit brutal I now - we just did'nt know when - but still had local bobbies arrived before his body could be taken away. But my Mother has got her hanging baskets planted in the greenhouse - not bad for 87 year old - lol

[RATTER15]

Although a Dr. has to be called to confirm death, they sometimes don't attend for hours, the body is often very obviously dead by the time they arrive.

[welshlibranr]

Oh Chris, that is not the case!...........death is usually very apparent, believe me!......but the checks are rigorous!.............very thorough!.........

[tinkerbell23]

We did ask the family to leave cos once we said yes she was dead we "tidied her up" just a bit and let family back in. Later after theyd had time we had to get them to leave. Doc confirmed and then we can perform last offices xxx

Onetime!!! Junior doc could still feel a pulse after we had telephoned the family down south to say mud had passed!! Omg!! Turned out was the docs own pulse!! Jeez oh that was scary ha x

[Buenchico]

Tinkerbell:
Beware of the 'torch in the eyes' test!

When I was a school first aider I was asked to take a look at one of the CDT teachers who was feeling unwell. I tried shining a torch into both of her eyes and got no pupil response at all! Based upon that, she ought to have been dead (despite the fact that she was talking reasonably coherently to me!). Having checked that she'd not recently suffered excessive 'feminine' bleeding (which could have resulted in a similar lack of pupil response), I worked out that she must have been drugged by contact with fumes in the workshop and called an ambulance to take her to hospital.

[welshlibranr]

RATTER, very true!.........after an hour or so, then death is very obvious!.....

[mrs.chappie]

Ratter, a doctor didn't confirm the actual death of my uncle, but the doc had seen him that morning and told the manager at the nursing home that death was imminent. He died a couple of hours later. I knew that he'd died.....I watched him stop breathing.

I expected to feel sad, but in fact, I felt relief for him. He was ready to go and had been suffering with advanced cancer for several weeks.

[welshlibranr]

TonyV, sad about your Dad, but credit to your Mum, hanging baskets all done, at her age!..............bless her!............

[RATTER15]

Chris, it is not my job to confirm death, that's why I call A Dr, I said "in my experience" our deaths are nearly always predicted and rarely unexpected, I also stated that a Dr. usually attends hours after death when death is quite obvious, even placing a stethoscope on a person that has been dead for 3 hours is purely academic.

[mrs.chappie]

Sorry, I would like to amend that last post. We only knew about the cancer in the last few weeks....he'd obviously had it for a lot longer.

[mrs.chappie]

This post is one of those where I wish I didn't have such a daft avatar.

[welshlibranr]

Mrs C, not to worry!....................the avatar is yours, this post should end shortly!..............morbid not good for any of us!...............enough!.........

[Buenchico]

Ratter15:
For 'academic', read 'pointless'!

I've known of customers who've boarded trains to be dead by the end of their journey (of not much over an hour, so they couldn't have been dead for very long by the time they arrived at their destination). The platform staff have simply waited for a quiet moment before dragging the body into a storeroom, in order to keep the train running on time. When they've had time, they'd eventually get round to calling a funeral director (leaving the formalities of certifying death up to him).

[sara3]

"For me, suicide is always to be promoted, encouraged and (most of all) celebrated."

what an irresponsible and thoughtless comment. I am shocked. you're welcome to your opinions and actions, but that's a shocking comment to post.

[sara3]

and I have reported it, as you are probably aware.