body removal...

Cubby · Jan 12, 2002

Why is it we feel we have to 'protect' our residents from death? I realize in an acute setting it is different. But in LTC we do everything possible to shield our residents from, what they know ,is inevitable. I'm not saying that we should take our deceased residents down the halls without a covering, but come on folks! Nor do I treat the deceased with anything but respect and yes kindness.It is the prognosis at birth, and everyone is afflicted. It is a taboo subject. No one talks about poor Ms. Smith who was such part of our community, all of a sudden she just isn't there. Do we feel that as your age increases your IQ decreases? It is a sore spot with me (obviously). Sorry!

deespoohbear · Jan 12, 2002

traumasRus_Love it!

I do have a funny story about a body. At our small hospital we had a mobile MRI unit that came to our facility twice a week. One afternoon when I was working as house supervisor a little old lady was having an MRI done out in the mobile unit. I knew this little old lady was a DNR. Anyway, I heard code blue MRI scanner paged overhead, and I knew immediately who was in the scanner. I ran out to the portable unit with the OR manager and the radiologist was doing mouth to mask respirations. I told him the patient was a DNR. I told him to check the chart-DNR's charts are tagged with a yellow dot on the outside spine to quickly alert the staff. He stopped the code and the lady died peacefully. The lady's sister was waiting upstairs in her sister's room for the patient to return from the MRI. The OR manager and I had to get a cart to place the body on and then get the body on without taking it through the public areas of admitting. We ended up going through the ambulance doors through the back hall up to the floor the patient was on. We had to put the body in an empty room and I went to talk to the sister. After I told the sister, we went and got the body and placed it back on the bed. I felt like I was on "Weekend at Bernie's" The sight of the two of us trying to get this body back upstairs to her room was something to behold, I am sure.

RyanRN · Jan 13, 2002

thisnurse and desspoohbear !!!! nuff said you made my night!!! LOL

Michelle_nurse · Jan 13, 2002

Where I work, in LTC. We wrap the body in the regular body wrap, we put a Canadian flag over the body, (like a sheet, but the flag is for respect...it is a veteran hospital).

There is a "designated" stretcher for deathes, but it is just a normal stretcher, it doesn't conceal the body in any way.

Everyone knows what the flag is for, so it is kind of obvious. They can't really see much though, just the general outline.

There is a special key for the elevators, so no one else can get in the elevator with the body. The body is brought directly to the morgue, which is in the basement, (in a pratically no traffic area)

Lisah · Jan 13, 2002

This made me think of my first death I experienced at the hospital I had just started at. I had only been there a few weeks when one of my pt's died, they were a no code, and had a terminal illness, and I had dealt with death before, so no big deal I figured. WRONG. I notified the family doc, and proceeded with the post-mortum care. The doc had said he would be in shortly to pronounce the person. I had the body all done up and in the body bag when the doc finally arrived an hour and a half later. We went in to the room and the doc looks at me and says, are you sure he is dead? did he say anything? I had no idea what to say so I looked at the doctor and said I'm pretty sure he is dead or he would have said something when i zipped up the bag! I later found out the doc had a problem, but it was a new experince for me.

prmenrs, RN · Jan 13, 2002

There is an official "death bag"--heavy duty vinyl zippered thing. Although we use the baby size one, some of the micropremies would do just as well w/a zip-loc gallon size. They fit into one tiny corner of the bag.

We call security (who refer to this duty as a "Code Black"), and the nurse and guard take the baby to the morgue.

Before we had the bags, we would just wrap them in baby blankets w/ the head covered. Security is supposed to lock off the elevator so no one else gets on, but once, I did have someone board the elevator with me, the guard and my patient. A sweet little old lady who said, "Ooh! It's a baby! May I see?" I looked at the guard who was NO help! I just told her he was asleep, and I didn't want him to wake up. (I whispered) "Oh! OK!" she whispered back! :eek: :rolleyes:

thisnurse · Jan 13, 2002

i was laffing so hard at them taking the body thru the docs meeting. thats the kind of thing i would do on purpose. especially if it was a meeting of the surgery dept...lol

of course i would get called about it and say...oh im sorry i didnt know how else to get to the morgure...lol

can you just imagine the docs...lol

it would be WORTH getting in trouble for.

at another hospital i worked for we got one of our patients up in a body bag. i couldnt believe the er would send anyone up like that. thank god he had no family. i cant imagine what they were thinking.

i called them up and asked them if they were wrapping them "to go" now.

they didnt think it was funny

wrightgd · Jan 14, 2002

Originally posted by donmurray
Lol! But, thinking on,... Why do we in the Western culture deny the reality of death's existence? Why do the other patients not want even to see the trolley on which they know that one of their number is leaving? In a supposedly Christian culture, should we not be happy for those who have gone before us? My philosophical attack is passing now....

I guess that until we are actually faced with our own declining health, it's hard to put ourselves into the position of these geriatric pts. Although, we must all face the fact that there are no guarantees in this world that any of us will draw that next breath, I guess we all assume that we will have more time. Having seen the death of family members, and realizing that emotional pain, we must also realize that death is a part of life, and it will come to all of us.

For me, I hope it is not about how I died, but how I lived... I am thankful that death is not an end, but a begining. A Homecoming...

George