"I Made A Mistake": 30 Haunting Last Words Medical Professionals Heard From Their Patients

I was visiting my grandpa and had to leave town and go back to medical school, and I told him I loved him and would see him later. He told me he loved me too, but no I wouldnt. He was right, he died a week later of pneumonia.

“Please help me! I don’t want to die!”

For me, it wasn't the patient's last words, but the last words that I had with her husband which still haunt me.

She was a woman in her late 20s who had just delivered a child and she was brought into the E.R of our hospital. I was the intern there that day with a senior. She was brought with post partum haemorrhage. I was still new to the department and I didn't know her diagnosis (I was just working under the guidance of my senior). When she came in my senior told me to go with her husband to arrange blood so that the blood could be arranged swiftly and it didn't take time for us to come back with the blood.

He kept asking me, "Is she going to be alright?". And I kept saying yes.

Tbh I really thought she was going to be okay. When we came back with the blood she had flatlined. CPR was being performed.

I left her husband there. I could not face him. I wish she lived.

I kept seeing the husband's face at random places for a few months. It haunted me for a long time.

"Don't tie that. I'm not going to make it". I was trying to check his manual BP cause automated was detecting nothing. he passed away minutes later.

I’m not a medical worker but my mom has been a hospice nurse for 35 years. When my Meemaw was dying it was real hard. My whole life every time I saw her she would have a gift for me for whatever the next gift giving occasion upcoming was, no matter how far in advance it might be purchased from the Dollar Store because she was on a fixed income. She would give me the gift and tell me to open it because and say “Well, I’m so old I’m likely to die before the holiday comes again.” This goes on my whole life until I’m 26. Then she actually gets sick in her 90s. The last time I saw her she looks terrified. The last thing she ever said was “I’m not ready. I’m terrified to die.”

My “ancient but healthy” patient (her words) asked me to hug her before surgery, cause she was going to die today. I provided support and education, hugged her and sent her off for a routine short and easy procedure, with anesthesia she’s had before with no issues. She had a bad reaction and passed. So “I’m going to die today” with no indication would be my answer. That’s not the only time I heard a patient say that and be right, but it was the only unexpected one.

My first day in the ICU, I was taking care of an older lady with sepsis. She was very confused and for the most part incoherent, but when I was assisting her at one point in the night she started muttering and wailing to herself. I leaned in closer to hear since I thought she was saying something to me and she just kept repeating "I'm dying, I'm going to die."

Sure enough, later that night she ended up coding and passed away. I did postmortem care that same day for her family to see her in peace.

"I need help"

She was beyond help. It was tragic.

I had this one patient when I started my first hospital job as an RN. It was in a rural hospital and I worked night shift so generally quiet although we would get slammed some nights too.

This was one of the quiet nights and I had this patient that was an elderly guy, in his 80s or 90s. I actually don’t remember what he was sick with, probably just failure to thrive. He was bone thin, like completely emaciated due to no appetite.

The three things I remember about him was one, he was an engineer in his working life and was downright fascinated by the IV catheter I had to use to put an IV in him. They are springloaded so that once the needle is inserted and in position, you press a button and the needle retracts just leaving the plastic catheter. He asked me to show him the mechanism a few times.

The second is at one point he said he was “weak as a kitten”. I never heard anyone say that before but I just think about it and laugh. Seemed like an old timey thing to say.

Last thing he said was "Ever seen a man die?" and I said no, he said "Well, you're gonna see one tonight." I laughed at that too, even though it was very morbid. I assured him I wasn't going to see a man die that night, and I didn't. But I don't think he lasted more than a week after that.

My mother’s final words as she died of lung cancer:
“I want a cigarette”