Julie McFadden, known as Nurse Julie on social media, has spent years working with people at the end of their lives
In the moments before death, it is difficult to imagine what your final words might be. Yet, one end-of-life nurse claims that many dying patients say similar things, with four phrases especially common in their last breaths.
‘Thank you’, ‘I forgive you’, ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Please forgive me,’ are the heart-breaking phrases that hospice nurse Julie McFadden hears very regularly. Though, in an interview with DailyMail.com, she asserted that it isn’t quite like what you see in the movies.
“It’s not usually at their last breath,” the California-based medic told the publication. “A lot of people think it’s like the movies — a dramatic, last proclamation of something they’ve always regretted or something they always wanted everyone to know. It’s not really like that.”
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Despite 16 years on the job, Julie revealed that some cases still baffle her about end-of-life experiences. In a separate conversation with NHS surgeon and podcaster Dr Karan Rajan, she spoke about people who ‘choose when they are going to die’ – though, it doesn’t quite make sense.
According to GloucestershireLive, she said: “They basically will say, ‘I’m going to die after this date’ or ‘I’ll wait for my daughter’s wedding’. I’ve literally had a patient say; ‘I’m dying tonight’ and then die even though they weren’t actively dying.”
When Dr Karan inquired what might be happening in these cases, Nurse Julie admitted: “I have no idea. They did not take anything, they did not do it. I could not believe it… jaw on the floor, like what the heck?”
Nurse Julie also touched on the peculiar phenomenon of patients seeing deceased loved ones or pets, but was quick to note that it’s again not quite ‘movie-like’, instead occurring three weeks before death.
She emphasised: “Those people who are seeing the dead people are very alert and oriented. They’re not like drugged up and on the verge of death. They’re up walking, talking and they are seeing things that we aren’t seeing.”
Beyond this, Julie said that calling the name of a family member or even behaving in a child-like manner are among the things she’s witnessed. However, this largely varies from person to person, with some individuals passing more quietly.
She told DailyMail.com: “Sometimes they’ll say things that just don’t make sense. But sometimes, they don’t make sense to us, but they might make sense to them.”
