Palliative care nurse reveals the most common regret she hears from people moments before they die – Health

A California hospice nurse has revealed what the most common regret people have in their final moments is.

Julie McFadden has seen more than a hundred people die in her job, which aims to make patients feel as comfortable as possible before they die.

On her YouTube channel Hospice Nurse Julie, she explained what “the worst thing to die of” is, as well as the noise a person makes when they have less than 24 hours to live.

In an interview with podcaster Rob Moore, Julie also shared the sad reality of what people usually worry about.

Julie said Disruptors: “The main thing people say, that I don’t hear mentioned a lot, is ‘I wish I enjoyed my health’.”

In order to practice what they preach, Julie writes a “gratitude list” each night, including things everyone takes for granted, like eyesight, the ability to walk, and other things she’s grateful for. grateful.

“I love being able to breathe, walking around, feeling the sun – little things like that,” she shared.

“I think the most important thing I hear from people (who are) dying is that they wish they appreciated how good they felt before.”

You may have felt this way after a period of illness and being able to smell or taste again, but being grateful for it every day makes it even sweeter, according to Julie.

Before specializing as a palliative care nurse, she worked in an intensive care unit, meaning she was around death for much of her career – something she talks about in her book.

The nurse added: “I believe people should be educated about the dying process before experiencing it with a loved one or themselves.”

The American health expert admitted that she, too, sometimes takes life for granted, explaining: “I think because of my work it’s easier for me to see how once in a lifetime it’s the fact that everything works together in our body to make us live. and growing up, um and I see this in depth too, I see how our bodies are biologically built to die.

Dying is a natural process that’s nothing scary, and Julie says we all have to accept that, but she opened up about how some American citizens will suffer a cruel death.

“Generally speaking, it helps to have money to die well, which I find really unfortunate,” she admits.

Unfortunately, in the United States, hospice care is not free, so working-class seniors will often be cared for at home during their final days.

Julie pointed out that family can take care of you 24/7, but they will not be qualified to do so, and people who work to earn enough money to survive will struggle financially to support someone at the end of life.

“Only extremely wealthy people can do this, which I find really unfortunate. So I don’t think money makes you happy, but it helps reduce the stress of the situation,” Julie said.

Additional words from Joshua Nair.