Witnessing death.

[TangoOneSix]

Used to volunteer at the sign in desk in an emergency room. It was a busy night, I was alone at the desk for the time being, as all the personnel were in the ER itself, or just behind me in the triage area - my job was to sign patients in and call for assistance if needed.

A person came in, complaining of chest pain. I asked him to stay calm, grabbed a wheelchair for him and helped him in. I turned around to go find a nurse. I heard a thump, turned around and saw the guy on the ground, convulsing. I shout for everyone to come assist. EMT's, doctors, nurses, everyone rushed to his aid...

Apparently, they couldn't resuscitate him. I had literally seen a person die.

Not very pleasant. I went home early that night, got dinner with a friend, saw a movie and went on with my life. You have to learn to accept the inevitability of death, and its tendency to strike suddenly and at inconvenient times.

 

[AMMO Kid]

I live in the south. I see road kill all the time.

 

[warprincenataku]

I've seen three people shot at my local mall. I've seen a man thrown through a windshield of a wreck, a motorcyclist almost severed in two in a collision and a dear friend pass away at a hospital during the night.

 

[kittii-chan 300]

No person, but I have seen my pets being euthanized, most of them actually, it is horrible The cat I had known my entire life, there on the cold table, horrible. I kept thinking that the cat was still in the house for almost 2 years afterwards, it was upsetting to realise I was wrong ever time

i got home from school and was told that my cat had bee n put down and i felt fine for awhile but then I saw a shape that looked like my cat. as i looked closer it was just a black jacket thrown over some boots and it hit me super hard and i was crying for almost an hour nonstop.


OT: my best freind died a long-ish time ago infront of me which i really dont want to talk about. but hat hit me hard straight away and i had to go to a phsycologist for a while.

 

[Artina89]

I saw a man jumping off some scaffolding and he killed himself. I was pretty shaken up and upset, but I eventually got over it. If it was a friend or a member of my family however, I would think I would be completely traumatised. Seeing death affects people differently, but if it was a friend or a loved one, you might feel differently.

 

[Bassik]

My grandma, when the doctor helped her die. It was an overwhelming experience, and I am glad she had the option to go this way, surrounded by her family, then alone and in pain in a hospital.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I haven't seen anyone die...

But, I witnessed the accident that killed my first girlfriend. And I reacted by going crazy...

EDIT: I really need to find some cheery threads to post in...

 

[Custard_Angel]

Seen thousands of animals, fish etc die. Many by my own hands. Couldn't give a fuck about that.

The closest thing I've seen to a person dying was my grandma who was dying excruciatingly from cancer that had taken hold of just about every part of her body.

Seeing her crying in agonising pain far beyond the ability for any painkillers to relieve made the actual dying part seem like the best possible thing that could happen. I was sad to see her go, but it cheered me up that she wasn't in pain any more.

 

[Blackmagic1515]

My grandfather passed away in the hospital and I was there with him as he went. He wasn't concious at the time and just slipped away. It was a more peaceful way to go and I was just sorry I never got to say goodbye to him while he was awake. Even thinking about it now upsets me a bit but life goes on. Still miss him dearly.

I was also there when my second dog was put to sleep. Her organs were all shutting down and there was nothing the vets could do. The whole family sat there stroking her as she went. I still sometimes come home and expect to see her running to the door to greet me.

2008 was not a great year. Lost my grandad in January, nan in Febuary, my dog in March and then a long time neighbour in April. Awful year.

 

[SkullKing84]

My dad died while holding my hand. Gasping for air like a fish on land and his eyes going vacant. Lung cancer, emphysema, and Pneumonia is three silent killers. Him and I never got along but it was still really hard to watch.

But then again, I have also seen a person on a crosswalk get hit by a truck and die.

I had two completely different reactions and I boils down to if you know the person or not. I was miserable when my dad died for about a day or two. But when the stranger died. I was shocked but then didn't really care for the poor guy. ( and yes i do feel bad that i still don't care for the guy)

My friends did a good job to cheer me up. When my dad died "Hey wanna play DnD?" (serious game and i felt better), when the stranger died "Hey, wanna play DnD" (It was full of exploding head jokes that night, and it made me feel better).

 

[halbarad]

I was with my grandmother when she died of a pulmonary embolism. I lived with my grandparents (Long story, nothing relevant) and it was quite late at night, heard her shouting me so went downstairs. She wasn't feeling well, wanted me to get her a drink of water etc so all that was fine, everything seemed good.
About 15 minutes later short of breath and a pain in the chest. I phoned my uncle and tried to wake my grandfather up by shouting, couldn't leave her as she was quite scared at that point and was asking me not to leave her.

A blood clot from her leg went up to her heart, blocking off the artery. She died within around a 10 minute gap so uncle came around a bit too late and grandfather just didn't hear me so once she seemed to pass I ran up and woke him up. Though I don't like remembering it cause I still can see her face turning a pale blue due to lack of oxygen and gasping for air.
Still, I am happy I was there simply because she wasn't alone. Dying alone must be terrible.

Anyway, My reaction. Mainly anger since my grandparents raised me since I was one year old. Once I'd phoned my dad, my other uncle and my aunt I just stood outside a while and ended up punching a wall in frustration/anger.


It does affect everybody differently. This happened when I was 19th and about 2 weeks before my 20th birthday and she was pretty much my mother in the fact that she'd been there all my life so I was understandably torn up about it and remembering it doesn't exactly make me happy.

 

[Zyntoxic]

I've not seen a person actually take his/her last breath, I've seen two of my great gandparents on their deathbeds, my third grandparent I didn't see while on her death bed I just visited her once a year before her death, but she seemed dead enough even then, since she suffere from apathy after her huspand died 2 years before her, so that was more of a relief when she finally did pass away, out of care and pure sympathy I wish she had died sooner.

The most terrible effect I've seen in a person who witnessed death was when I was 7 or so years old and a friend of mine living next door accidently saw 2 people and a dog get slaughtered, through a window, that particular case is still one of the most horrific murders that have occured in my city.
he never seemed ok after that, mentally scarred for life. Eventually the family had to move because of his degenerating mental state.

 

[manic_depressive13]

I watched my father killed my pet budgerigar when I was small. I saw my neighbour's dog get hit by a car more recently. Everyone else died when I wasn't looking.

 

[Chrono212]

When I was in a graveyard I saw a very old human skull and it freaked me out.
A lot more than I would have thought.
But regarding OT, no, I haven't seen anyone die. Or someone who has recently died; a la in a morge.

 

[Ekonk]

I've seen a pet die, a pet rabbit. It was quite terrible.

 

[Russian_Assassin]

I had my cat die in front of me 10 years ago. My mother held him in her arms as he drew his last breath. I cried for a week. Now I am paranoid about my current cat's well being.

 

[hooblabla6262]

I was waiting for the metro (underground subway thing) to go back home one night, when out of nowhere the guy next to me jumped in front of the train. I remember walking up beside him and being able to hear the music coming from his headphones, which is the only clear memory I have of the event. The next thing I knew there were cops all around me asking me questions and everything just seemed to get hectic very quickly.

Another death, that I never actually witnessed, was one of a girlfriend I had some time ago. We had dated for half a year before she moved away for college. We continued to date long-distance for some time until one day I stopped hearing from her. I had assumed that she simply got caught up in studies or something of the sorts. It was only a few months after that her mother called to tell me she committed suicide.

However, I'd have say the death that got to me the most was that of cat I saw die. My roommate was driving me home from work when she hit a cat. We pulled over, called the cops, and were told to wait at the scene. Unfortunately the cat was not dead, but severely injured in the middle of the road. I could hear it "screaming", and cars that weren't paying attention would run over it but never kill it. By the time the cops showed up, the cat had been run over 7-8 times and had finally died.