In my 7 years of clinical nursing experience, I have encountered many incidents wherein dying patients, especially cancer patients in do-not-resuscitate status, would see relatives who apparently were already dead.
Yesterday while I was in a patient's room giving some instructions to the family; the patient, a 56 year-old female, with breast cancer (lungs, and bone metastasis), dying, in DNR status, suddenly raised her hand like reaching for something. Blankly staring at the ceiling, she struggled to speak, thanking her parents whom she said have finally arrived to fetch her so the three of them can fly together. She was pronounced dead after almost 2 hours after that incident.
It's like they were just hallucinating of some sort due to rapid deterioration of mental faculties. But it still makes me wonder why they tend to "see" their parents or other close relatives instead of say, angels or Elvis?