Dear louisepell-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question. There?s good news and bad news:
THE BAD NEWS is that there is no definitive answer to your question;
there is no way so say for certain that anything your cousin did or
did not do contributed to her husband?s death.
THE GOOD NEWS is that it doesn?t matter that there is no answer to
your question because the answer would not change or undo what has
happened or change the way your cousin feels. THE GREAT NEWS is what
your cousin is experiencing is a normal (yet painful) reaction that is
not to be unexpected under the circumstances. I will explain - Read
on:
In many cases a person who is close to dying, from any number of
causes, can be resuscitated. However, even if immediate resuscitation
is successful it is NEVER A GUARANTEED SOLUTION to the medical problem
that might be causing them to die. Underlying medical problems and
subsequent physical damage caused by the ailments that cause their
vital organs to fail can, and often does, result in the person?s death
even though he or she has been resuscitated. Take drowning cases for
example; in many instances no matter what lengths one goes to to
resuscitate a victim, death can still occur due to the damage caused
by the oxygen deprivation. I can offer you dozens of scenarios like
this one but I?m sure you get the picture.
I have been in a rescue/defense oriented profession all my adult life
ranging from my years in the US Army to the decades I have served in
law enforcement. Over the years I have had MANY occasions to witness
the ?death rattles? you are referring to. This phenomenon is not
isolated to any one ailment nor can it be narrowed down to any group
of conditions or circumstances under which a victim succumbs to death.
The rattling noise is most often caused by either the relaxation or
spasm of the epiglottis (the flap of skin at the back of the throat
that closes over the windpipe when we swallow). Mere unconsciousness
can often produce this sound if the head and neck are positioned just
so. Other causes can include (but are certainly not limited to)
obstructions in the throat, a spasm of the trachea or tongue (contrary
to what many people believe, it is physically impossible to SWALLOW
and attached tongue), or mucus, saliva or other fluids draining into
the throat. In each instance what you basically have, for whatever
hundreds of reasons, is an obstructed airway. The rattles are cause
when air, under positive or negative pressure (inhaling or exhaling)
passes intermittently around or through the obstruction. Essentially
the noise is a bubbling sound.
The number of circumstances that might cause this phenomenon is about
as plentiful as the imagination can conjure. Having said that there is
no accurate way to assure you that ANYTHING a person in attendance
might have done, or failed to do, might have saved the victims life.
If its any consolation it has been my personal observation over the
years that by the time a person ?rattles? the situation is often so
dire that rarely can any first aid method reverse the victim?s
condition. Put bluntly, it is MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE that most people
who exhibit the death rattles die. Over the years I have also seen a
number of victims with the rattles resuscitated in THE FIELD whose
death was postponed. It may be of interest to you that none of them
(in my experience) survived to recover from the conditions that
eventually led to their demise. I have, however, seen a few in a
hospital setting who were resuscitated who DID fully recover.
If it is any consolation the death rattles can also be present in a
person who is not only beyond resuscitation, but in one who is already
dead. As the body dies the muscles of the body relax. Air trapped in
the lungs sometimes tries to escape from the trachea through the
epiglottis (which has also relaxed and closed) causing the bubbling
sound known as the rattles. The strange occurrence can even happen in
people who have been dead for a period of time, and post mortem
contractions of the body or physical movement of the body can
sometimes trigger brief moments of rattles as more air or gases in the
lungs or stomach escape. I am not a coroner but on the dozens of
occasions that I have seen someone in the condition you described
(fixed gaze, not breathing, very blue, etc) I would be quite convinced
that this person was already dead and possibly beyond hope.
This may go a long way toward convincing YOU that there was probably
nothing a non-medically trained person could do, but it will most
probably fail to convince a grieving relative who did not take action
that they were negligent. Such is the tragedy of bereavement.
When we grieve we often seek answers to the unknown. We try to justify
or convict ourselves of action or inaction in order to come to terms
with what was physically or medically inevitable and unavoidable.
Sometimes we even conclude that circumstantial or incidental events
are somehow our fault because it is just too difficult or too painful
to believe that this awful loss has happened to US. We think, ?How can
this be? Bad things like this always happen to someone else, not me?.
In other words, ?I refuse to accept this.? You see, in order to
rationalize a death we enter into denial. We somehow think there has
to be a REASON, even if that reason is our own incompetence,
negligence or weakness. We gravitate toward this fault because the
?blame game? is the easiest answer; simply resigning to the fact that
?life ends? is not a comfortable reaction to us. In time, most of us
eventually accept the notion that there was little or nothing
substantial that we could have done to save the life of a dying
person. People die because nothing lives forever, and no amount of
guilt or justification can change that fact.
I HIGHLY recommend you get your cousin to grief counseling as soon as
possible (or if she is religious consult with her spiritual advisor).
Do not buy into this feeling that she ?could have? or ?would have? or
allow her to focus on that either. Grief is normal, but that does not
minimize how damaging it can be to us. Your cousin needs to eventually
(if not immediately, depending on her mental state) channel her grief
away from blame and on to the celebration of her husband?s life and an
understanding that (yes, sadly) all good things must come to an end.
It will not come easily and it will probably not come quickly. If
necessary, it may need to be enabled professionally, and that is my
recommendation.
Please consult some online sources for more information about grief
management and counseling. Contact some local professionals or clergy
in your area or make some inquires at your local funeral home to see
if bereavement and grief counseling is part of the offerings at their
establishments as part of their funerary process. Please let me know
how it goes.
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad ? Google Answers Researcher
OTHER INFORMATION SOURCES
IN MEMORY OF
?GRIEF AND BEREVEMENT FORUMS?
http://www.memory-of.com/forums/
DAYSPRING COUNSELING
http://www.dayspringcenter.com/
Counseling Via the Internet http://www.dayspringcenter.com/ecounsel.htm
GRIEF RECOVERY INSTITUTE
http://www.grief-recovery.com/
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINES USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
Death
Dying
Rattle
Rattles
Grief
Bereavement
Guilt
Counseling |
Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
03 Aug 2005 09:19 PDT
When a human being dies it is not at all uncommon for the body to
expell intestinal gases. Sometimes this is audibly apparent and
sometimes it is a noticeable odor. In other instances it does not
occur at all. Just as the sound emanating from the throat is nicknamed
"death rattles" the gas you are describing (or more specifically, the
odor from it) is often referred to as "death smell" or "smell of
death". Death, of course, has no odor but the presence of this
involuntary flatulence is what is often recognized (and even taught to
first responders) as one of the first and more obvious potential
indicators of death.
Not being able to give you an answer that is an indisputable
medical/biological certainty, my most reasonable assumption based on
what you have described is that this man was already quite dead at the
time his body was discovered. The odor suggests that the body had
enough time to relax to allow the gases to escape and that death had
occured some minutes prior to his discovery. Other indicators that the
body has been dead for some minites might be an involuntary urination,
dribble or frothing of the mouth or nose, blue or black nail beds, dry
or dull sclera of the eye, and in particular a remarkable blue or gray
hue to the skin of the neck, lips, hands, feet and/or upper chest.
Depending again on the victim's physical problems and the climate of
the room, one might even place the time of death some 20 or 30 minutes
prior to discovery if there is any noticeable "stiffening" of the
fingers, feet (ankles) and neck. In addition, as stagnate blood begins
to pool up on the tissues, a decedant's skin will begin to profoundly
redden (bruise) or get a rosy purple and greenish hue anywhere there
is a weight bearing surface. The part of the body that was in contact
with the couch, for example, would bear these post-mortem marks called
"levidity".
Sorry to be so graphic, but based on your description of the events, I
for one, am convinced that this poor man was probably too far gone for
ANYONE to have revived him. Had he been discovered IN THE CONDITION
YOU DESCRIBED while sitting in a hospital waiting room, I doubt that
he could have been saved.
Regards;
tutuzdad-ga
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