Anyone experienced dead bodies?Update photos/home #149

[@~rosecityfarmgirl~@]

I was in Italy a few years ago, and my great-grandmother died while I was there. It isn't customary to take the body to a funeral home - the body is placed in a casket and viewed at the family home for one day, then buried. However, she died on a Thursday, preparations took place Friday, viewing was Saturday, and the funeral Monday (they don't have funerals on Sundays). Big air chillers where placed in the room over the weekend to help preserve the body, as no chemicals are used, but in the 100F-plus heat, they didn't help much.
After 4 days, the body looks NOTHING like what you see in a funeral home - no peachy glow, no calm expression. The eyelids, fingernails, lips, and nose turned black, and the skin was paper-white/blue, and the stench was awful....
We're used to seeing preserved bodies here, so it was QUITE a shock

 

[Lynette]

My brother works for a company, that I thought only cleaned up after fire or water damages and mold. Well, they also do crime/trauma scene clean up. He told me some stories..... I thought of working there and I asked him if I would have to do that and he said that I wouldn't if I didn't want to. I think it is human nature to be curious about things, but I don't know if I could handle that. I don't think I would forget what I saw.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
No I really don't know. It seems to be rather random. An African American guy was totally white, and an Indian woman was pink, a white guy was black. Soooo odd. And to think I will never know what color I am. I hope I am pink.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

My husband is a firefighter and nationally registered paramedic and has experienced that same scenario several times. He said that the first time they would called to a situation like that it really got to him, but after a few of them, you learn to put on an O2 mask and give the remains the best possible respect they can give. Yes, any dead body (human or animal) smells bad when it starts to decompose, but they are trained to show respect to the dead. He had to pick up one elderly lady that had been dead 10 days before the neighbor knocked on her door to check on her. He said that one was the worst because she had "melted" into the bed. He came home and cried over that one. How could somebody not check on their elderly relative for 10 days?

He said that the WORSE call he has ever had was to a 18 month old that was given sleeping pills because his mama wanted to go out and party and couldn't find a babysitter.

 

[Lynette]

He said that the WORSE call he has ever had was to a 18 month old that was given sleeping pills because his mama wanted to go out and party and couldn't find a babysitter.[/quote

That is terrible!! I don't even know what else to say......I don't think I would have the strength to do that job anymore.

 

[JetBlack]

Quote:
That's why I'm really nice to the police. What if that was the last call he just had and now he's being a jerk to me? I let him. It's fine with me. Dead babies have to be the worst.

 

[DCS]

Babies and kids are the worst.

I'm an ER doc, and you aren't dead until I say you're dead. (The medics don't bring me the long-dead, but sometimes the living smell just as bad.) I turn off machines, and close eyes when they will stay closed. I try to have the family with their loved one whenever possible, as long as they're ok with it.

Our society is so unfamiliar with dying - I occasionally get a hospice patient whose family has freaked out during the dying process. We gently educate, and do what we can to make the family comfortable, but it's sometimes a challenge. I had a soon-to-be-widow collapse in my arms last week, crying that she was terrified to watch her husband die at home. Even though he wanted to die at home, she just couldn't handle it. They had hospice holding 24-7 vigil, but something snapped in her and she called 911. Reassuring her that it was ok to feel like that, and that she was only human seemed to help. He died shortly thereafter, in the hospital but on what we euphemistically call "comfort care only," hopefully surrounded by his loved ones in a calm, peaceful way.

 

[nonseq]

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That makes me very angry.....

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
I truly believe that every human out there with a family member over 50 needs to read the multiple Death and Dying pamphlets that are out there. It makes understanding SOOO much easier.

 

[Rozzie]

From way earlier in the thread:
The yellow stickers they placed on the house could be condemnation stickers. At least where I live, the city can "condemn" a house that has code violations that make it unsafe to live in. This doesn't mean there is structural damage and doesn't necessarily mean it is slated to be demolished. It means no one is allowed in the house. If it's safe to do so, they'll allow the family to remove some belongings--clothes & so on--during a brief period so that they can get by until the house is acceptable again. Then, whatever repairs or cleanup are needed must be done by qualified crews -- electrician, plumbing, pest removal, or whatever. These are typically houses with multiple severe code violations. A basement that is flooded in raw sewage can get a condemnation notice on the house until it is properly cleaned & sanitized. Buildings that have condemnation notices must pass inspection before they can be lived in. If it's bad enough and isn't repaired, eventually the house could be demolished or the city COULD do the repairs and charge them to the tax bill.

A biohazard situation could cause a condemnation notice, I'm sure.