Nurses General Nursing
Published May 25, 2002
does anyone else find themselves looking in the obits for former patients? my family thinks that i am totally bizarre, please confirm that this is yet another "nursing feature!"
momrn50
75 Posts
Always read the obits first...just have to to check on former patients. I do attend funerals for my people, but mostly for their families....hard not to get attached.
thisnurse
657 Posts
heather....that had to be the WORST!
when i get the paper i guess i usually go thru the list but seldom read them.
we just had a pt die and her family was a PIA. in her obit her son listed all her survivors and beside his name he put (professional actor) it was hard to imagine even that jackass doing something like that
mario_ragucci
1,041 Posts
Originally posted by momrn50 I do attend funerals for my people,
I do attend funerals for my people,
Lol, you sound like moses or something "Let my people go!" You can not use possession in a sense of refering to other people. I'm sorry
LasVegasRN
835 Posts
It's interesting and sad, like someone said, to read obits on patients you've cared for and find all these interesting facts about them after they are gone.
However just recently there was an obit in the paper that you could tell the family paid $$$ to post, it was almost half a page! I hate to say it, but it was almost offensive and so braggadocio as if to imply that because this was the wife of a professional she deserved more space and acknowledgement than, say, the 80 year old WWII Vet. Just rubbed me the wrong way.
NurseyPoo7
275 Posts
Sorry for bringing up an old post, but I was getting ready to make a post on the exact same topic!
I read the obituaries EVERYDAY looking for former pts, esp for residents that lived at my former places of employment. I also regularly check them looking for pts I have had that I felt were near the end... I had a patient recently, I cared for them on a Sat & Sun, by Monday afternoon they apparently had been transferred to Hospice. The obituary said they died that Tuesday.
I'ven ever gone to a service or funeral for former pts.
And for the person that said reading the obituaries is age-related.. I'm only 23 :)
uscstu4lfe
467 Posts
I read them from time to time (ok, pretty often). My grandfather was in the ICU for many months. We eventually transferred him back home to die peacefully at home. We ran the obituary with all of the funeral details... and low and behold several of his former nurses showed up at the funeral!
If they're young, then i get REALLY curious. our newspaper never says what they died from (and i'm curious as hell). so then i do some investigation by going online and looking for their online obituary (the legacy website) and I find comments that friends/family have left and sometimes I will try to ask them... oh my god i need a life..... lol
prmenrs, RN
4,565 Posts
I read them whenever I see a paper. I need to make sure I'm not IN them.
blueheaven
832 Posts
Shannon, I've been in the nursing profession for a long time and YES I check the obits for former patients, coworkers, doctors etc. My husband thinks it's nuts but it is what it is. When I see one I remember it gives me a chance to reflect on who they (or their family) was and sent out a prayer for them.
MIA-RN
245 Posts
I've been reading the obituaries since I was a little girl. Defintely not just a nurse thing.
Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP
4 Articles; 5,259 Posts
I read them too, and did well before I became a nurse. I like hearing people's stories.
BinkieRN, BSN, RN
486 Posts
I check the obituaries for patients I have taken care of. Nothing wrong with it.
HappyPediRN
328 Posts
I do this every day. I work with oncology patients and after one year I don't have a single former patient who is still alive.