Have you ever seen a dead body ?

[BensGrandad]

When stationed in Bramcote we had a lad who sent his brother over to the shop to get some cigs for him as it was raining. There was a big flash and his brother was killed instantly and burnt to ashes due to being struck by lightning with his boot studs forming the live link. The chap was watching out of the window. as it happened, that was hard for him and he eventually was medically discharged.

 

[SeagullinExile]

In Phuket a couple of years ago. We were stuck in traffic (nothing new there in Phuket). 4 of us heading to the top of the island and the traffic was way worse than normal taking about 45 minutes instead of the usual 10 to get through one of the many regular bottlenecks. We eventualy got to the cause of the holdups-a pick up had flipped on its roof, crossed the central reservation and there was a woman, hanging upside down, blood still coming from her head. The value on life is different in Asia I think. She had clearly been there a while but nobody had bothered covering her body...
Have seen more but that was the most upsetting.

I've spent a lot of time in S.E. Asia, unfortunately life is very cheap & I witnessed many accident scenes in my time over there.

 

[Quinney]

Occupational hazard working for ambulance service. Makes you appreciate your own family life and how people's lives can change in a split second. Live life to the full as you never know what's round the corner.

 

[mothy]

Never thank ****

& long may it continue (39 years so far)

 

[Wrong-Direction]

I just watched the latest episode of the walking dead and nearly threw up

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[Bry Nylon]

More than I can recall.

Some I think about and recall vividly - often on a daily basis - even many years after the event. Others I have completely forgotten about - and then something entirely out of the blue (maybe just a sound, or something on a TV programme or whatever) brings instant recollection. The mind is a funny thing.

 

[albionfan37]

II used to work in a hostel for homeless people and found plenty of dead folk that was all before the age of 30 quite a lot to take in when untrained to deal with such situations but you will find a way to get beyond it I did it with a "firemans sense of humour"

 

[rocker959]

My dear old grandfather, we sadly arrived to visit him moments before he died in Southland's hospital and we're led through to his bed to say our final goodbye .

 

[Official Old Man]

My Father.
I couldn't sit around the hospital bed with the rest of the family waiting for him to die. I stayed in the corridor. After he had died, and as they filed away, I spent a peaceful few minutes alone sat next to him thanking him for everything he had done for me in the 59 years I'd known him.
Thanks Dad x

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

In a professional role I dealt with a wide range of scenarios from apparently serene and peaceful endings to many extremely violent and undoubtedly quite unpleasant deaths, and not all of them instant. Certainly the majority were sudden unexpected events when life is 'normal' but then lost only a few seconds or minutes later.

No matter the circumstances they were always dealt with in a dignified and professional manner. I mostly found it easier to deal with older deceased persons because while unfortunate, it gave some hope they had led a full lifetime. Less easier to accept loss of life among children and younger people, especially suicides or through unfortunate accidents. In addition far too many clearly avoidable deaths of all ages among those innocent victims of RTCs or other events caused by simple errors or the negligence of others.

On a positive note I can recall many situations where persons in life threatening situations were saved or resuscitated. Yes, the prospect of dealing with a body is not to be underestimated, however I would urge everyone to learn basic first aid and CPR - you just might be able to save a life, which is just about the most precious thing you can do for another human being.

 

[Ralphingtonpuss]

I'm on holiday in the canaries currently and unfortunately day 1 I had to drag an unconscious man out of the sea. As soon as we turned him over to start cpr I could see obvious signs it wasn't going to be a good outcome. To the best efforts of all around after 30 minutes cpr he was declared dead on the beach. His poor wife just wailing uncontrollably as you would expect.

It's been playing on my mind and I'm having trouble sleeeping but the sight I saw was one I will never forget. It also made me realise that at aged 40 I had yet to see a dead body. Is this normal do you think ?

Apologies for the depressing thread but it might help me a little to express what I'm thinking and deal with it ....

Thanks

Hi Juliant,
I see and deal with many dead people old and young, the first will always impact. You have already started a good path to dealing with this by sharing your thoughts and feelings. Professionals that deal with medical and traumatic death take time to weigh up and come to terms with some incidents. It's not unusual to be thinking about this days after and re playing the events over and over again. Make use as I'm sure you are of your social network, family and friends and don't bottle thoughts up. If after a week you are still not sleeping and the event is effecting your daily life and activities then maybe consider speaking to your GP?
Remind yourself from time to time that you did help to try and save him. These things generally do get easier with time.


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[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

First time I ever saw a dead body was at The Goldstone. Did not know the fellow was dead until reading about it in the paper but he had obviously gone to the match alone and sat in The South stand. Everyone just walked past him slumped in his seat after the game.

 

[Perkino]

I'm on holiday in the canaries currently and unfortunately day 1 I had to drag an unconscious man out of the sea. As soon as we turned him over to start cpr I could see obvious signs it wasn't going to be a good outcome. To the best efforts of all around after 30 minutes cpr he was declared dead on the beach. His poor wife just wailing uncontrollably as you would expect.

It's been playing on my mind and I'm having trouble sleeeping but the sight I saw was one I will never forget. It also made me realise that at aged 40 I had yet to see a dead body. Is this normal do you think ?

Apologies for the depressing thread but it might help me a little to express what I'm thinking and deal with it ....

Thanks

I saw a dead body earlier on in the year, I found the first few days a little awkward as I didn't know the gentleman but struggled with the image of a pale blank face. Once I'd spoken with the wife and a few colleagues the uncomfortableness passed. I felt bad for the old mans family

 

[sir albion]

Seen half a dozen before funerals although not much difference between a dead human or a dead animal in my book

 

[marlowe]

First was a suicide victim.
Was walking down the road having left work when two women came running out of a house distressed and screaming. At first I thought they were running away from someone.so I asked them if they were alright, and one of them spluttered out the words, "He's dead". I phoned 999 on my mobile and went inside the house. When I arrived at this room I saw a man lying on the floor with one of those blue nylon ropes around his neck. The two women, his wife and daughter, I discovered later had already cut him down after they had found him hanging in the shower. His face was purple, as were his lips and his tongue was protruding which at first I mistook for his bottom lip. The emergency services instructed me to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation. I knew immediately it was futile but felt obliged to try just in case. When I tried to prise his mouth open it seemed that rigor mortis had set in. Anyway I did what I could, whilst all the time knowing instinctively that it was already too late, but at the same time I couldn't not try. Eventually the emergency services arrived and took over and pronounced him dead as soon as they saw him. I was taken to another bedroom to be questioned by the police. As they were talking to me I saw a photograph on a bedside cabinet. I was completely shocked by what I saw as I realised that the man in the photograph was the man lying dead in the other room, but the thing that shocked me the most was that I actually knew the man, not well, but to nod to and say hi to as I often used to pass him on my way to work. I used to see him most days so knew him by sight extremely well, and yet all the time I was with him just moments before, closer to him than I had ever been, I never once recognised him. I never realised that strangulation could so dramatically change your appearance. I almost felt a kind of guilt that I hadn't recognised him. It may sound strange but I had an urge to ask the policeman if I could go back in the room again to see the man for who he really was, as I thought it would help to reconcile my confusion and disturbance, but I never did actually make that request because I thought they might think I was a bit weird so I just left it. At the time I didn't think I was that badly affected by the experience, but a few years later I was in the shower myself and I thought about him and I just broke down. I think my own state of mind at the time was a bit fragile which probably contributed to my reaction. After that I went through a period where I constantly thought about him and was quite emotionally affected by it even though it was several years later. And every time I saw one of those blue nylon ropes I was reminded of him.

 

[TheJasperCo]

None directly (24 y.o. now). The closest (and I say this with a heavy heart) was when I was about 10 or 12 and I was with my family heading to the ASDA in Brighton Marina. A load of squad cars raced past us, lights flashing but sirens mute. We kept driving and saw the fencing lining the Undercliff above the car park had been cut through and a guy was perched on the edge.

Fast forward about an hour or so and as we made our way out of the supermarket, a security guard ushered everyone back in. We looked out the doors to see an ambulance driving up the ramp away from the scene. Bizarrely, as it sped up the ramp out of the car park, its lights and sirens started blaring.

One of those things that was such a blur, and happened when I was so young... that I wonder if it actually did happen, as if I'm questioning my own recollection of events all these years later.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

More than I could remember probably, mostly as the result of crashes.

I find that, once somebody has gone, they become- I hope this doesn't sound harsh- just another part of the background, they're just something that's there (until they're removed), albeit one that you treat with as much respect and dignity as possible in the circumstances.

For me, it's considerably harder to deal with the living: those screaming in physical agony because of terrible injuries, or stricken by sudden grief. Carrying out the dreaded midnight door knock to break bad news to someone's family never gets any less daunting, no matter how many times you do it.

Those are the moments that have been known to keep me awake at night, not the bodies themselves.

 

[sydney]

I'm on holiday in the canaries currently and unfortunately day 1 I had to drag an unconscious man out of the sea. As soon as we turned him over to start cpr I could see obvious signs it wasn't going to be a good outcome. To the best efforts of all around after 30 minutes cpr he was declared dead on the beach. His poor wife just wailing uncontrollably as you would expect.

It's been playing on my mind and I'm having trouble sleeeping but the sight I saw was one I will never forget. It also made me realise that at aged 40 I had yet to see a dead body. Is this normal do you think ?

Apologies for the depressing thread but it might help me a little to express what I'm thinking and deal with it ....

Thanks

tragic......seen a few , drownings at bondi , shootings in south africa , a dead vagrant in homefield park about 40 yrs ago .............just be proud of yourself for helping the bloke out of the sea mate.....people die every day .... not your fault is it , life goes on

 

[AlastairWatts]

At my pub in High Wycombe we have a first floor lap dancing bar open some evenings a week until 2.00 am. Last autumn a well dressed businessman came in, brought a drink, said hello to one of the dancers, dropped his drink and followed it down. He was clearly having a major heart attack. The head doorman tried to revive him (he'd done a first aid course) and to my surprise para medics turned up in under five minutes. They gave up after half an hour and eventually two police people arrived as apparently sudden deaths like this (presumably especially in a strip club!) have to be checked out. Sad - but what better place to glo?

There is a twist to this tale. We'd taken all of the customers and dancers out of the bar down some service stairs to the ground floor bar so that the evening could continue leaving just me, the police and the dead man lying on the floor waiting for the undertakers. The doorman failed to lock the street door, and four guys, clearly the worse for wear, walked upstairs, stepped over the body and one said 'Oi mate, where's the girls?' Yeah, we just leave stiffs around most evenings...

 

[seagull_in_malaysia]

Maybe half a dozen passing road accidents.