Does Death Have A Smell?

[AngelfireRN]

Just wondering if anyone else has experiences like this?

I first noticed it when I was in nursing school, and we were orienting on the floor. We would go in a room with a patient, and I would smell this sicky-sweet odor, and around a week later, the patient would be dead.

It continues to this day. I have smelled Lord knows how many smells, but this one almost defies description. The only way I can compare it to anything is to think of really concentrated Swish and Swallow, that nystatin stuff. I love the way it smells, but this other smell is like S&S overkill.

I finally started piecing it together when I noticed a pattern with the smell and the demise. My instructors never could understand why I would walk into a room to help, and get a weird look on my face. My co-workers later could not understand it, they just knew something was up by the look on my face. It was especially sad when the patient was thought to be improving.

It happened with my FIL. DH knew that SOMETHING happened to me when a person was about to pass, and I had already told him that I was not going to tell him if I sensed anything. The last time I saw FIL was the only time I did not hug him. I would have bawled, and given it away. I regret not hugging him, but not like I would regret giving my MIL and DH 4 days of a deathwatch. Afterward, as we were headed to the funeral home, DH looked at me, all teary, and said "You knew, didn't you? You've been weird since we saw him the last time."

Smelled it with my Grandmother, and squalled for 3 days solid, before there was really anything to squall about.

And I smell it still, with patients I see in the hospital. I hate this. It's as bad as getting that gut feeling to pull the code cart outside the lady's room. There is no more helpless feeling than knowing what is going to happen, and knowing just as well that you're powerless to stop it.

Anyone else gets this, or get an inkling as to the demise of a patient? I've heard about bad patients asking to have a BM, and nurses knowing that that was it, we've all heard about the "last turn", but does anyone else smell anything beforehand?

Or am I just a freak?

[jenzmom]

This a.m. as I was commuting to the hospital, a radio show was on and the DJs were talking about a nursing home that had cats for the enjoyment of the residents. Apparently, one of the cats was quite gifted in detecting imminent demise and would go into the resident's room and lie on the bed. Shortly thereafter, the resident would die. They kept stats and apparently the cat has a tremendous record of detecting impending death in over 50 residents. In fact, they said that at one point, a resident appeared imminently to die and someone brought the cat into the room and put it down. The cat left and went to another room and within a short period of time, that resident died. The resident that the nurses thought was going to die rallied. A few days later, the cat entered that resident's room and the resident later died. The nurses said it was only this one cat that had that ability.

[hihopes]

AngelfireRN said:

Just wondering if anyone else has experiences like this?

I first noticed it when I was in nursing school, and we were orienting on the floor. We would go in a room with a patient, and I would smell this sicky-sweet odor, and around a week later, the patient would be dead.

It continues to this day. I have smelled Lord knows how many smells, but this one almost defies description. The only way I can compare it to anything is to think of really concentrated Swish and Swallow, that nystatin stuff. I love the way it smells, but this other smell is like S&S overkill.

I finally started piecing it together when I noticed a pattern with the smell and the demise. My instructors never could understand why I would walk in a room to help, and get a weird look on my face. My co-workers later could not understand it, they just knew something was up by the look on my face. It was especially sad when the patient was thought to be improving.

It happened with my FIL. DH knew that SOMETHING happened to me when a person was about to pass, and I had already told him that I was not going to tell him if I sensed anything. The last time I saw FIL was the only time I did not hug him. I would have bawled, and given it away. I regret not hugging him, but not like I would regret giving my MIL and DH 4 days of a deathwatch. Afterward, as we were headed to the funeral home, DH looked at me, all teary, and said "You knew, didn't you? You've been weird since we saw him the last time."

Smelled it with my Grandmother, and squalled for 3 days solid, before there was really anything to squall about.

And I smell it still, with patients I see in hospital. I hate this. It's as bad as getting that gut feeling to pull the code cart outside the lady's room. There is no more helpless feeling than knowing what is going to happen, and knowing just as well that you're powerless to stop it.

Anyone else get this, or get an inkling as to the demise of a patient? I've heard about bad patients asking to have a BM, and nurses knowing that that was it, we've all heard about the "last turn", but does anyone else smell anything beforehand?

Or am I just a freak?

Some people say it smells like new born puppies, amniotic fluid. Is that what you have experienced?

[Haldaina]

I experienced that with my husband's grandmother. He laughed when I told him that, but after we visited with her I asked him if she has cancer, he said, "no". She died a few days after. I thought I was imagining it.

[Bill Levinson]

ToxicShock said:

I had a friend who claimed she could smell cancer. She was kind've... "out there" so I don't put much stock in her claims. I think anything is possible though.

I have heard that dogs can smell certain kinds of cancer. The cells doubtlessly emit a chemical that is not found in healthy tissue. I have never heard of a person being able to do it, though.

[inkydorei, LVN]

I've been working in LTC for almost 20 years. death definitely has a distinct smell, as does staph, cancer, and c-diff. My husband calls me a bloodhound because of my acute sense of smell....sometimes it's not such a good thing.

[nurse441]

BURN ICU.. very very strong odor. 4th degree burn- coding every other hour. I smelled something, but I thought it was the smell of stale burnt flesh. Any burn nurses out there know if there is a burn victim smell, or is it just the same dying smell?

[hihopes]

Yes, I experienced that when my own Mom was dying of cancer.....even though it doesn't sound exactly like what some others are describing. Thanks

[cherief]

I have smelled it. But it was a sour smell. Something mixed in. Smelled it with 3 patients and then my mother. A smell you can't quite describe. Within 1-3 days they died. I thought maybe they weren't clean, so I cleaned them....still there. No one else smelled it and thought I was strange.....

[Parakeeter]

I most definitely agree that death has a smell, and I agree with the OP's description of it. I was a Med/Surg RN for less than a year, but we were also a hospice unit and took care of a fair amount of terminal patients. I smelled it there... and in all honesty, I have smelled it with my pets, too. I've had multiple cats for just about my entire life, and when they were close to passing away there was that particular smell (and definitely after they'd passed). I'm kind of glad other people smell it too, I thought I was the only one!

And - just adding this for interest - I read another post questioning if this smell is anything like amniotic fluid. That definitely has its own particular smell, but it's different from the death-smell; for me, at least. Amniotic fluid is a more "wholesome" smell... I can't really describe it, but it's definitely different.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I have never smelled death, but I can feel it when someone is going to die usually.

[Teamlangston]

I actually read an article in Reader's Digest that addresses this subject. It was talking about the cat at the nursing home who always knew which patients were going to pass away. The doctor said that when cells in the body die they release ketones, much like a diabetic, so that may explain the sickly sweet smell of death. Some people just have a more keen sense of smell then others. Now on the other hand, I've had some patients dying from cancer and their smell was not the sickly sweet smell. It was a whole other scent entirely.

[dianac323]

You're not crazy, just experiencing your gift. I have had this happen to me, I work with animals and there is definitely a smell associated with their demise. I've learned to recognize it but not over react, just acknowledge it's there. I have a story about a particularly eerie one.

My boyfriend and I went up to Vermont on a mountain biking excursion. We stayed at a lovely inn that had an animal sanctuary on the property. There were a few horses in the fields and I went to visit them one evening. Although they were in separate fields, the alert, healthy looking horse was standing very close to the fence leading to the field that the other horse was in. The other horse was nearby and I could tell immediately that he didn't look well. The alert horse seemed to be keeping a very watchful eye on his old friend. This concerned me, animals do know and the healthy horse seemed to be telling me to help him. At that point the older horse began to sway as if weak and wobbly on his feet, very unusual behavior for a healthy animal. I knew something was wrong.

I went to the innkeeper and politely suggested a vet come take a look. I didn't want to overreact but I didn't want to ignore it either, I would never forgive myself if I didn't (patient advocate She said the vet had already been out but gave no real diagnosis and just treated him for pain associated with a colic he may have been experiencing.

The next morning I went to check him and he was down. I couldn't help myself and hopped through the fence to see if I could rise him. As I got closer, it hit me, the smell was horrendous. I attempted to get him to stand and he would not, a further sign of a very sick animal. I went back to the inn and told the keeper once again. She called the vet and they talked over the phone about it. When she hung up, we checked him again and he was up. They treated him conservatively (did nothing really) that night. I also noticed while I was in his field that there was uneaten grain in the grass, horses live to eat.

We left that night and I took the innkeeper's email address to check up on the old guy. He died on his own the night we left. I just knew in my heart when we left that it wouldn't be long until he passed. I just hope he wasn't in a great deal of pain which I was assuming he was. I'm no Dr. but I can just imagine that he was obstructed and perforated his gut. The smell was so bad it just had to be something like that.

So no, you're not crazy...it happens.