A hospice nurse from Los Angeles, California has revealed the heartbreaking words that most people say before they die.
Julie - who goes only by her first name on social media - has been working as a hospice nurse for the past couple of years and has been educating people about the subject of death on social media.
Hospice care is a type of health care that seeks to improve the quality of life and well-being of terminally ill patients by attending to their emotional and spiritual needs.
The nurse uses her TikTok - under the handle @hospicenursejulie - to share insight into her job, as well as her knowledge and expertise with her staggering 1.3 million followers.
Check out her TikTok below:Julie spoke to The Sun about her occupation and said: "The best part about my job is educating patients and families about death and dying as well as supporting them emotionally and physically," adding: "Also, helping them to understand what to expect is another part of my job as a hospice nurse."
Back in 2021, the registered nurse posted a TikTok video describing things that happen to most people right before they die that may seem unusual but is typical at that stage. She explained that these include changes in breathing, a shift in skin color, terminal secretions, and fevers.
She also revealed to the publication that one thing most people say shortly before they pass away is "I love you" or they "call out to their mum or dad - who have usually already died".
The hospice nurse further shared with the outlet that it is difficult to generalize what happens when people die as each individual is unique in their own way.
Furthermore, the nurse opened up about what happens if there are patients that die from natural causes, and said they will have similar symptoms during the "actively dying phase".
"The symptoms of the actively dying phase include changes in consciousness, changes in breathing, mottling, and terminal secretions," Julie told The Sun. "These are normal and not painful or uncomfortable," she said, adding that our bodies "take care of ourselves at the end of life - the less we intervene, the better".
Julie also addressed the common assumptions that people make about hospices, stating that most of them are not correct. For example, she said it’s "not true" that everyone in hospices passes away right away, and it's also incorrect that morphine makes people die faster.
"There are some assumptions that people make. Another one that’s completely not true is that hospices kill people," she concluded.
