Dignity

Just left a loved one who passed away in hospital.  Was with him just before his passing away.

He had not been shaved for a couple of days and during the last 9 hours prior to death, his bed was never made up and only once did the nursing staff come in to fix his pillows.  He was congested but there was no container for him to spit in - I found a cardboard container that I used for this.

After the fact - maybe he should have had soft music playing in the room as he was very agitated and his body was constantly twitching (dieing of lung cancer).

I don't know if the staff ha made any suggestions to try to relax him (his sister had been with him up until

l day before - she went home to rest - me and my brother who both live about 4 hours drive away came down to give her a break.  We left him late in the evening and he died about 3 1/2 hours later.

We had planned on returning the next day and request that they shave him.  I thought about the music after I had left - too bad I waited too long but you don't think of these things right away.

Also he felt very, very hot and I suggested that I put a cool wet cloth on his fore head and this seemed to please him, but again you would think that the nurses would have done this.  Perhaps they wanted us to spend the last time with time and did not want to interrupt??   Just felt that the staff should have assisted better - although they helped whenever we went to their station to ask questions and get any item needed. ..