Hospice nurse shares what happens to the body after death
A hospice nurse has revealed the reality of what happens to our bodies in the minutes, hours and days after we die.
In her efforts to break down the taboo around conversations about death, Julie McFadden, a hospice nurse from the US, posts candid videos about death and dying to help us be more informed and prepared.
In Julie’s latest video, she explains exactly what happens to the human body in the moments, hours and days after someone dies.
Nurse Julie said that in the immediate moments after death, the body completely relaxes, beginning the first stage of decomposition, called hypostasis.
“All of the things in your body that are holding fluids in, relaxes. That's why death can be messy sometimes.”
She clarified that because of how relaxed the body becomes, those who have just died may urinate, have bowel movements or experience bodily fluids coming out of their nose, mouth, ears or eyes.
Nurse Julie added, “I like to talk about it so people aren't surprised if that happens - very normal and to be expected sometimes.”
This is also when the stage of decomposition called autolysis, or “the self-digestion” stage, occurs and enzymes begin to break down oxygen-deprived tissue, also causing the body temperature to drop.
As the body settles in the hours after death, Nurse Julie said the blood will begin to pool downward toward the ground.
She said, “If you let someone lie there for long enough - which we do sometimes; you don't have to hurry up and make sure your loved one leaves the house - if you turn them you will notice usually the back of their legs the whole backside of them will look purple or darker that's because all their blood is pulling down.”
“Gravity is pulling it down. So they will eventually get a darker colour tone of skin on their backside.”
One to two hours after death is also when rigor mortis - or the stiffening of a body’s muscles - sets in and continues for about the next 24 hours
Nurse Julie said, “I have seen people become very stiff almost immediately - like a few minutes - after death and other people, their body takes longer.”
Additionally, about 12 hours after death, the body will feel cool to the touch.
About a day to a day and a half after a person dies, rigor mortis subsides and the body will begin to loosen again, as Nurse Julie said the body's tissues relax and cause the stiffness to break down.
By this time, the body is usually in the mortuary, which will prepare the body in whichever way the family has requested, whether it is for burial or cremation.
She added, “In a world where people didn't have access to a mortuary or a healthcare system and they just died naturally, our bodies are built to, after death, decompose.”
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