You can tell that they're dying by looking at their eyes

Specialties Hospice

Published

Specializes in retired from healthcare.

When I was a new girl on the wing, there were two patients whose eyes were all tired and staring. The nurses talked about their tired staring eyes in the report room. They said they could tell by their eyes that they were dying. A week later they were both gone.

On the other side of things, people look like this when they stay up drinking coffee all night, in which case I've told them, "Your eyes are all weird."

Later on, I was sure to report to my charge nurse, either/or get someone to a doctor when I noticed that their eyes were all intense and tired and staring into space.

In one case, I noticed this in someone I was talking to who was not my patient. I was blunt and said, "Please go and see the doctor.......because I think you're dying..." What this person told me after their visit to the doctor matched my suspicions.

Had this person not seen the doctor they might not be around. I have never seen much discussion about how to tell if someone is dying if you're not their doctor or their caregiver and when they don't have real signs or symptoms

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