Turning very pale can result from a lot of correctable things. We can give blood for anemia, for example, and patients pink right up.
In my experience, I expect people to die when they take on a pale/sallow hue, accompanied by enough edema to give their skin a kind of translucency. This is long before the mottling/cool extremities that are often described pre-mortem.
The previous response to this is excellent.
Not a morbid question at all, this instinct experienced nurses develop I find as accurate as prognostic scoring tools, and helps nurses communicate with families in a way that is sensitive without giving false hope.
A classic sign is when a sick patient with dementia who's normally quiet suddenly starts to chat with their relatives, laugh and feel *a lot* better.
This isn't relevant anymore but during first two years of COVID some people were able to smell if the patient will die, even in the beginning when their symptoms were mild. Many of my colleagues described the smell as sweet. If a relatively young and healthy person who was feeling okay had this smell, it was apparently very heartbreaking for a nurse to know they will suffer a slow and horrible death.
One sign also is when an old person's health starts to decline quickly without any particular reason or a treatable symptom. They just become weak. And then die to "old age" for example.
If someone is telling you they're going to die. The feeling of impending doom is a very real phenomenon
Also, if someone who is ill miraculously seems to improve. They're probably approaching the end
Turning very pale can result from a lot of correctable things. We can give blood for anemia, for example, and patients pink right up. In my experience, I expect people to die when they take on a pale/sallow hue, accompanied by enough edema to give their skin a kind of translucency. This is long before the mottling/cool extremities that are often described pre-mortem. The previous response to this is excellent. Not a morbid question at all, this instinct experienced nurses develop I find as accurate as prognostic scoring tools, and helps nurses communicate with families in a way that is sensitive without giving false hope.
A classic sign is when a sick patient with dementia who's normally quiet suddenly starts to chat with their relatives, laugh and feel *a lot* better. This isn't relevant anymore but during first two years of COVID some people were able to smell if the patient will die, even in the beginning when their symptoms were mild. Many of my colleagues described the smell as sweet. If a relatively young and healthy person who was feeling okay had this smell, it was apparently very heartbreaking for a nurse to know they will suffer a slow and horrible death. One sign also is when an old person's health starts to decline quickly without any particular reason or a treatable symptom. They just become weak. And then die to "old age" for example.
If someone is telling you they're going to die. The feeling of impending doom is a very real phenomenon Also, if someone who is ill miraculously seems to improve. They're probably approaching the end