Hospice Workers Describe The Strangest Death Bed Experiences They've Witnessed

Anyone who has been involved in end-of-life or hospice care, either for a loved one or for a job, can attest that there are strange, memorable, and surprising moments during those final days.

Redditor bats_and_glitter asked:

"Hospice and hospital workers of Reddit: What is the strangest or most unexplainable thing you have seen a person experience when they were close to death?"

Just The Right Time

"I saw a lot of examples of patients who seemed to pick their time of death."

"For example, one family insisted on their dad/grandpa not dying alone. A dozen family members hanging around him in his room 24/7 for days."

"They turned around and were talking to each other in the doorway of his room, and he died while their backs were turned."

"That’s what he wanted."

- Turbulent_Peach_9443

Like An Off Switch

"I work in prehospital emergency care, and one day I went to this elderly woman in a nursing home. The reason we were called was because the staff thought she was having seizures."

"When I walked into her room, I was greeted by a lovely woman sitting upright in her chair, looking very well. Throughout my assessment, she was laughing and joking with me, and her observations came back normal."

"She asked for a cup of tea and sent her daughter out of the room to get it, and then she turned to me. I was sitting beside her, and said, 'Remember I have a DNAR (Do Not Attempt Resuscitation).'"

"I reassured her that I had seen it. She then leaned over to me and tapped me gently on my hand and said, 'Well, whatever you do, dear, don’t bring me back,' and proceeded to die."

"It was like she had her finger on the off switch and decided to flick it. I’ve never seen a person go so calmly into death."

- notyoursocialworker

Always Their Song

"I worked in hospice for a while. One of my patients was completely removed mentally and had been non-verbal for about four months. The night he passed, he looked at his wife and began to sing their wedding song. I believe it to be terminal lucidity."

"He looked at her while singing, and with tears in his eyes, he said that he always loved her."

"He then closed his eyes and passed away as his wife finished the song."

"It changed my life."

- Maniacboy888

A Final Check-In

"One of my ex’s grandfathers, who was in good health, woke up one day and asked his son to take him to mass."

"They went to mass, he did confession and received a blessing, and on the way home, he put his head on his son’s shoulder as his son was driving, said his deceased wife’s name, and passed away."

"We all assumed he knew this was his last day. Not a bad way to go."

- Aware-Watercress5561

It Was Time

"Not hospice, but my Uncle’s last moments. He was sat in his bed with the afternoon sun shining in, and his daughter was having a chat to him, as well as his sister on the bay window seat, and his cat was in his lap and he sighed deeply and said, 'Well, as lovely as all this is, I’m afraid I must go.'"

"Then he rested his head back on the pillow and was gone."

- Livinginthemiddle

A Decorated Countdown

"This one was kinda nice, if that is possible to say about death. I stayed with my mom 24/7 while she was in hospice."

"A neighbor/good friend brought her six lilies. One lily died each day. On the sixth day, they both died. Like a countdown for the family to emotionally prepare."

- Late_Weakness2555

A Final F-U

"My mom died of COPD. She was in the ICU, hooked up to a ventilator, in and out of consciousness, and on very heavy pain medication. She was strapped to the bed at one point because she kept trying to pull her IVs and tubes out."

"I was in the room with my sister and aunt (her sister), and we were talking about my dad. My mom stirred a bit, came to for a moment, and with what little energy she had, lifted her middle finger in the air. It was no secret that they didn’t like each other, but this one little thing made everyone laugh, and it’s still something I think back on over a decade later."

"She passed away later when we turned off life support."

- MinusTheH_

A Precise Appointment To Get To

"I worked as a CNA at a nursing home while I was in college. The strangest thing I experienced was a healthy elderly client asking what time her daughter was scheduled to visit."

"I told her 4:30, and she asked me to call her daughter because she was going 'home at 3:53.'"

"It was strange because the time was so specific, and as I said she was healthy; there was no reason to suspect she would die."

"I did as I was asked, and her daughter showed up. The woman had a heart attack with her daughter in the room."

"He official time of death was 3:55."

"...As everyone knows, it takes a couple of minutes for the doctor to pronounce a patient dead."

- just-another-grinch

A Happy Moment

"My great-grandfather, who had been mostly comatose for days, suddenly sat up in bed with a huge smile on his face and opened up his arms in greeting before falling back stone dead."

"Whatever he saw in his last moments must have been incredible."

- zerbey

"I can’t help but think that perhaps in his mind, he was three years old again, and reaching for his mommy, young, healthy, and beautiful."

"My grandfather is 92, and he’s told me that he misses his mom. I hope he gets to see her."

- Accurate-Ad1710

Thanks, Imaginary

"Sick children can be the most disturbing and yet peaceful to lose."

"I've also seen where a child’s imaginary friend told the child to tell the parents something no child would say the way it was said. He said, 'Mommy, Imaginary says to tell you it’s not allergies, it’s growing in my head, and I’m not going to be okay, but you and Daddy will be.'"

"The kid was apparently at home and considered healthy, but with a sinus headache when the child did this. It freaked out his mom enough that she brought him to urgent care... and a neuroblastoma was found."

- EnaicSage

The Rainbow Bridge

"One of my Uncles had stage four Pancreatic cancer. He was a tough guy and didn’t trust hospitals, so he didn’t see a Doctor until it was way too late, despite being in debilitating pain. When he did, the prognosis was grim, he had maybe six weeks left, and Pancreatic cancer is a painful way to die. He decided to get MAiD instead. Medical Assistance in Dying, which is legal in Canada."

"On the day we were all gathered around his bed, all the paperwork and permissions were sorted out, and the syringe of drugs was connected to his IV. He was heavily sedated, but he had to be the one to push the plunger, which he did with the help of his wife. He closed his eyes, and his breathing got very shallow and slowed down. After a few minutes, we thought he had passed."

"We were all standing around him, some saying goodbye, and a lot of people were crying. About 10 minutes passed, and people started to leave when suddenly, in a strong, clear voice, he said, 'Russell, wait for me.'"

"He weakly raised his hand, and then his breath rattled once, and he was gone."

"Nobody knew who Russell was, and it was kind of a mystery we talked about from time to time at family gatherings, trying to guess who he was."

"Years later, his wife passed, and when his kids were going through her things, they found a very old photograph of him when he was maybe five years old. He was in a sandbox with a small dog, and on the back of the picture in faded ink, it read ‘Russell, 1944.'"

"The thought that our pets that have gone before us meet us to help us cross over fills me with comfort. I hope it isn’t just a mind trying to make sense of a crazy time. I hope my Kacey and Finneygan are waiting for me."

- LOUDCO-HD

Beautiful Reunion

"My mom used to do hospice work, and she told me of a woman whose husband of like 60 years had passed away about a week prior, along with their only child (who was an adult) in separate incidents."

"This woman was already in bad shape, and losing her husband and kid was kind of the last straw."

"As she was passing, she reached out her hand and said, "Well, there you are!' Everyone agreed it was her husband and son waiting for her."

- bitsy88

Sibling Love

"I’m not in the medical field, but my Grandpa flew to see his sister after she had a terrible accident in a nursing home and wasn’t expected to recover. My uncle and aunt took him to say his final goodbye, and they heard him say he would see her again soon."

"When they returned home, we were all waiting for the call that she had passed. The call that came was that my Grandpa had gotten home from the airport, thanked my aunt and uncle for taking him, and had gone to his room to lie down for a nap. He passed in his sleep and was found by his daughter when she biked to his house to chat about his visit."

"I’ll never forget my Dad, his son, answering the phone and saying he was gone. My Dad hung up the phone, and it rang again. This time, it was his cousin calling to say my Grandpa's sister had passed. As far as we could figure out, they died within a few hours of each other... just like he promised."

- SingleHeart197

The Final Rally

"I worked as a clerk on an Otolaryngology unit for a few months when I was in college. For some reason, when people were about to die, many of them, even if they hadn't been mobile in some time, would get up and walk up the hallway as if they were trying to get away."

"The first time it happened, a woman who had been nonverbal for days and hadn't eaten in that time, came walking up to me at the desk in the middle of the night and asked me where a good place to get a burger in town was. It was very weird."

- Imalittlefleapot

Freaky But Inspiring

"I worked as a nurse's aide for a while in a nursing home."

"This was on a memory ward. The person looked directly at me and said, 'You're a good person. You're going to have a good life. I saw it.'"

"I was going through a pretty bleak period, and that didn't seem very likely to me. I have no idea what they thought they saw, but it freaked me out pretty good."

- Suspicious_Hotel9219

It's not surprising that these were such touching and memorable moments for these Redditors, and even a little weird or haunting. Death is one of those things that we still know so little about, so it only stands to reasons that the moments leading up to it would be beautifully mysterious, too.