A hospice nurse has explained exactly what happens when people die and says we shouldn’t fear death as it is the most normal experience. P enny Hawkins Smith, 62, has 20 years of experience being by people’s bedside when they die.
She said that when people are dying a natural death they will sleep more and slip into a responsive state before going into a ‘death coma’. Penny said that when people are in the process of dying, they will experience bed visions and talk about going on a trip.
She said that this often occurs close to an individual’s death – but comes as a comfort to the individual. Penny said that death is “beautiful” and the most normal thing we can experience.Penny, a hospice quality assurance nurse, said: “When doctors are trained they are trained to save people and prolong life.
“Death is seen as a failure, we have made it a taboo topic. The less you know about something, the more scary it can be which is why we don’t want to talk about it.I love being able to educate families and normalize death – everyone is going to have to go through this experience.
“Death can be a beautiful thing but not if you are terrified with what you are seeing and thinking it isn’t normal.”
Over the past 20 years, Penny has been at the bedside of many people who are at the end of their lives. She said her main priority when someone enters hospice care is to normalize the process of death for the family and patient.Penny said: “A lot of people come to hospice and don’t realise it means they have a small life expectancy.
“Sometimes I have to be direct, I have had patients come in who are actively dying and the family haven’t even been told that they have a few hours left. I normalize the dying process and let them know that what is happening is normal and we see it all the time.
“There is nothing to worry about.”
When someone is dying, Penny said that they can experience ‘paranormal activities’ – like visions and travel language. She said: “There are some psycho and biological changes and more paranormal activities.Patients can experience bed visions where they will see past loved ones or reach up towards the sky.
“They can also speak travel language where they will talk about one last trip or going on a big adventure.”
Penny said that each death has individual characteristics but if someone has a terminal illness and is in the process of natural death they experience a similar process. She said: “When someone is dying a natural death, that be a terminal illness and they are not receiving treatment to prolong their life, they will go through a dying process.
“There are different hallmark signs but a patient will usually have some maybe all. Usually on hospice, people don’t die suddenly, for the most part, they sleep more and more.They will slip into an unresponsive state, go into a death coma and then die.
“That is the typical experience of people who are allowed to die a natural death.”