Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
Few people witness death as often as medical workers. They dedicate their days to saving lives, but when that’s no longer possible, they stay by a patient’s side until the very end. And in those last moments, they often hear words that no one else ever will.
A Redditor recently asked nurses to share the most striking deathbed confessions they’ve heard. Some were heartfelt goodbyes, others shocking admissions, and a few left behind more questions than answers. Keep reading to find out which ones still linger in their minds.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I don’t know if this fits in here, but the first death I witnessed was in a dementia ward. The patient has been sad and depressed as long as I’d known her. No matter what we did to cheer her up, it just didn’t stick. One morning I went in to her room to get her out of bed and make her ready for the day, she sat up in her bed with her feet straight out. She somehow looked like a little child and she was smiling. Delighted that she looked happy I exclaimed : «Are you already up, friend?»
She answered, so happy and so smiley: «yes, I’m going home today»
I took her to the bathroom and right there in my arms she went home…
I was young and it scared me back then, but now I cherish that memory. We should all be so lucky to leave the world happy and content.
RELATED:
#2
Brought a pediatric patient back for emergency heart surgery (about 14yrs old). He was very nervous. Outlook looked grim. I held his hand as they began to induce anesthesia. He looked like he was about to cry. I told him there was nothing to worry about. He was gonna be just fine. He gripped my hand super tight as the propfol took hold, looked me in the eye and said "I'm going to die, aren't I?". I told him I would be there in PACU when he woke up. He died on the table. I was the last thing he ever saw. 8 years later I still think about that kid. I still see his face. The fear in his eyes. I still feel guilty that I lied right to his face...
EDIT: Didn't expect this to get as much traction as it did, so I will clarify. I am in a much better place now. I'm still in pediatrics but I have regular therapy and am in a strong place mentally. I appreciate all the kind words. The guilt I feel doesn't weigh on me like it did all those years ago thankfully. Hug your kids and tell them you love them. ✌️.
Bernd Herbert 1 day ago
it's very much okay to lie to people to give them comfort. don't give into Christian guilt-tripping bs.
#3
Lots from COVID that stuck with me. ICU nurse here.
Many passed due to vaccine misinformation. Can think of patients tell me that they wanted the vaccine after they were so sick.
I remember one in particular- his wife recently passed from COVID, and wanted to watch her funeral but had no way of watching it. He was an elderly man without much technological experience. I was able to pull up the live stream using my phone and let him watch. After the funeral was over, he called me in the room to tell me he was ready to pass. He was extremely sick, but still conscious, and wanted all oxygen and meds to be turned off. We gave him morphine and versed and he passed in less than ten mins.
I frequently flashback to all the patients that we gave iPads to so they could FaceTime their family one last time before being intubated (a death sentence). Some patients would get to that point at 2am, and they would call their families multiple times without anyone picking up. Still breaks my heart.
Also had patient who was close to discharging, tell me about dreams they had where the reaper was following them everywhere they went. While waiting for his ride to come pick him up, he went into cardiac arrest and we never got him back.
This isn’t a confession per se, but the eeriest story I’ve ever encountered.
We had a patient in the icu for months, sick with liver failure, perforated bowels, CRRT.. the works. He was so yellow (from the liver failure) he almost looked like he was glowing. He eventually went into cardiac arrest and passed away, sent him to the morgue and clean the room. A few hours later we admit an elderly confused man with dementia for a fall. I’m moving him over to his bed and the first thing he asks is “why is there a yellow man standing in the corner of my room?!”
I was shaking.
Bernd Herbert 1 day ago
Anyone spreading Antivaxxer b******t is guilty. and an ignorant a*****e.
#4
I had a patient tell me she had m*rdered her first husband back in the UK in the 1940's.
He was an abusive drunk who married her at 16 when he was 40. He beat her black and blue and often fell asleep drunk afterwards.
She said she poisoned him and no one looked into it after he died, just assumed it was the alcohol. She felt it was her only way out as she had no family or friends and she was scared he would k*ll her if she tried to leave.
She moved to Australia straight after and never told a soul, not her second husband nor her children. She lived a lovely life in New Zealand with a husband, several children and a tribe of grandchildren who all loved her but never knew.
#5
I had an elderly lady in for shortness of breath, she was a very petite but otherwise healthy 90 year old lived independently at home. She had been with us for about 5 hours at this point, she's ready for imaging so the husband goes to get her an overnight bag and we head to imaging.
Fully lucid, stable BP, sinus rhythm, 99% sats on room air asks me to tell her husband when he came back that she loves him very much and has enjoyed her life with him. 15 minutes later we return to the room, I plug her monitor back into the podium and she arrests.
She didn't get to tell him she loved him that one last time like I reassured her she would. I often think about that man, I think he would have shortly passed from a broken heart. The way he looked at her after 70+ years of marriage.
I thought I'd add another "true love" death story. An elderly lady again in her 90s collapsed in the shower at home. She was the carer for her husband who had mild dementia. Her husband heard her fall, found her unconscious and called the ambulance. She arrived lights and sirens with a GCS of 6 (not awake, doesn't respond to verbal commands but has a reflex response to pain). As she was being removed from the back of the ambulance, a colleague was assisting the husband out of the front of the ambulance. As he was exciting the ambulance he had lost his footing, fell down, hit his head and was also now unconcious. They both had catastrophic brain bleeds, were palliated in a bariatric bed together and they both passed away within hours of each other, none the wiser that poor health had impacted them and they never had to go through the pain of losing their life partner.
I often think about their children and hope they can see the beauty in their passing amongst the grief.
Heir of Durin 1 day ago
It is wonderful they went together, but I do feel bad for the colleague who was helping the husband out of the ambulance when he fell. I would feel so guilty.
#6
Not a nurse and not a confession as such.
My mother was dealing with high blood pressure, increased glucose levels, hyperacidity, cold, and body pains. It all happened in 1.5 days so we never could see it coming, which is why we never took her to the hospital and she was resting at home.
The cold meant she had a stuffy nose hence she was breathing through her mouth and the body pains meant she couldn't lay still on the bed for any longer than 2 mins. Throughout (what were) the last 4 hours of her life, she was just breathing through her mouth, and getting up to sit upright (because of the back aches from lying down + body pains) and then lying down again (because of no energy in the body from a poor appetite across the day) repeatedly.
In the last 30 mins, she sat upright, dragged herself to the edge of the bed to fall on the floor in a sitting position, and crawled her way across to me where I was sitting on a couch, so I could stay up all night vigilant to her needs. She placed her hands/palms, one over the other, on my thigh and then laid her head on this new makeshift pillow she made for herself, where she slept uninterrupted or without much discomfort for 20 mins - it was the longest duration she managed to sleep across the entire day despite being on bed rest. I made it a point not to move an inch, until a mosquito bit me on the foot and forced an intervention which disrupted her sleep.
It would turn out that her last ever nap was spent in her son's lap in a somewhat spine-chilling full circle of life. It was quite difficult to see the guiding light of my life leave like that but thanks to the wonderful people around me, I've looked at that experience from a perspective of her seeking comfort in those moments of pain from someone she loved so unconditionally and that it is truly a privilege being able to give my mother that comfort before she left.
#7
I've got several, but this is one of my favorites. 98 yrs old guy heart failure. Decided to go comfort care only. He was on a lot of meds to keep him comfortable until his room was ready. I was 1:1 with him in the ED. Basically keeping him well so he could pass in peace when his family and friends arrived. I asked him " so, 98 yrs. What have you learned?" His response was awesome. He said "sex. If I knew the last time I had it was going to be the last time, I would not have been such a gentleman." I don't know why, but in his halting gasps it always makes me laugh. Approach everything with gusto ladies and gentlemen, like it might be your last time.
#8
Patient once told me he wished he had worked less and spent more time traveling and being with friends and family. He died the next day, not on my shift. It stuck in my head. A few years later I retired and this was one of the reasons. It changed my perspective.
BeesEelsAndPups 1 day ago
I tell my employees this. Nobody wishes they spent more time at work on their deathbed.
#9
I've had a few people casually tell me, "I'm going to die today." The first time someone who was awake, alert and not-in-distress told me that (then died later that day), I was spooked. Then, I learned to believe them.
#10
Not a nurse but I had a lovely conversation with the nurse who cared for my grandma when she died. She did the whole "idk how to say this but one of the last things she said seemed like she k*lled her husband?" And I just laughed and went "yea, two of them. Times were crazy before no fault divorce." It was always an open, but not talked about, secret. Now that she's dead and can't be arrested, I'm bragging to *everyone* about how protective she was towards "kids in her care". She was a flawed human being but she was fiercely protective and the strongest person I've ever met.
#11
I wasn’t a nurse but a CNA.. working in dementia care I was helping a resident with a bath having a typical conversation with him about his day, my day, etc. For his dementia, it was considered a “great” day. Near the end he thanked me [my name] for the help but then he quickly grabbed my hand saying “Thank you for being here [daughters name]”, she hadn’t visited him in a long time
He dozed off as I was cleaning up supplies and when patted his hand as a goodbye gesture not to wake him, I realized he had passed.
I was 16, it really shaped my perception of both death and love
Edit to change typo.
Winnie the Moo 1 day ago
In what country do they let 16 year olds take care of patients with dementia?
#12
Had a patient that was a Covid/Vax denier despite being in an ICU with COVID. His last words were, "I didn't think it was real".
Sara Frazer 1 day ago
And one of the top idiots who spread that misinformation is back in office. Wheeeeeeee.....
#13
An old lady told me she had a 22 year long affair with a bus driver, and all five of her adult children might be his.
I didn't pass that along.
#14
He didn’t die, BUT… had a patient come into the ER who had a partial airway obstruction. He thought he was a goner. He told his wife on the way in that he’d been having a decades-long affair.
Annnnd of course he ended up being okay. The wife left his room and did NOT come back.
#15
Two come to mind, a mother and son were cooking m*th and the house exploded. They both had enough burns they were not going to make it. They basically just held hands and apologized to each other and died together. They were both comfort care on our unit.
The other was a young man with AIDS that didn’t believe in treatment. He said he hopes on his next reincarnation he takes better care of himself and that he wished he would have taken the meds.
#16
On the opposite side here: I've died clinically once (though thankfully I was resuscitated).
I grew up in the slums of Rio. It was extremely violent and the only way to avoid being part of the d**g cartel and not having protection to survive was to be part of a gang. I was part of a gang made only of girls. At the time, the average life expectancy of us there was 23.
When I was 15, I got stabbed in the guts and went down the Dona Marta, which is a very steep way down, to the public hospital at the base. I got there, and I was 200% sure I was gonna die of blood loss.
My last words to the nurse before I passed out were "Will you tell my friends I was brave?" I wasn't thinking of my parents or my family. I was worried for the other girls.
It seems... extremely sophomoric now, but it meant a lot back then. In a way, reputation was everything, and I didn't want other gang members to think less of my friends if I died scared.
Anyone-for-tea? 1 day ago (edited)
Yes, this photo really goes with this story. So very well chosen. Not like BP to ever get it wrong 🙄
#17
A grumpy, nasty old gentlemen who had an acute deterioration in his COPD and opted for palliative care. We called and called his next of kin to come in and say goodbye but they either didn’t answer or one of them even said “don’t call us back until he’s gone”. He managed to tell us it was because he had married a young Thai bride and had changed his will to leave everything to her but even they had separated and she didn’t want to see him. He had alienated all of his children and had never even met or tried to meet his grandchildren.
Another nurse and I still held his hands, told him it was okay, and played calming music for over an hour while he passed. And afterwards we cried for him and treated his body with the utmost respect as we prepared him for the morgue. No one deserves to die alone and I will never feel bad for showing s**t people kindness. And I think that’s part of why I like being a nurse.
Cindy Brick 1 day ago
So much for the young Thai bride, huh. I wonder if he thought she was really worth it...
#18
Patient told me they had a dream that they were going to meet me. I was the one to wash their body and prepare them for the morgue once they died.
#19
This doesn’t quite fit as I’m not a nurse, BUT.
Last year my great grandfather passed, I live 4hrs away from my family, my mom gave me a call shortly before his passing to come visit because “it will be the last time I’d see him” (in his late 90’s on hospice, not doing well)
Well, after I’d visited and come home, I get a FaceTime from my mom (she stayed with him along with her mom in his final days). The reason she FaceTimed me was because my great grandpa kept asking for me and saying he needed me. When she put me on the phone with him, all he wanted to ask me was if it is okay that he “moves on to the other side” I assured him that it was okay and no one would be mad at him.
Afterward, my mom told me that he had said I came to him in his sleep last night to help him to the other side and he wanted to talk to me to make sure it was okay to go.
Sure enough he passed that night. I think about it sometimes, an odd feeling that I, for some reason was what helped him let go.
ZombieMommy 1 day ago
I was one of the last people to see my Grandmother. I told her she could let go, we would be okay, how much I loved her, and will miss her. She died that night. Cancer sucks.
#20
I'm a nursing assistant and definitely have some stories.
I've had a few senior women who are in different stages of dementia describe violent SA they experienced as children, many of the stories were similar in the sense of when they told their parents they were blamed or not taken seriously. Really heart breaking but I never knew if they were actually true stories.
I once had a man who was extremely sick, confused and at the end stages of life. I had only dealt with him on 2 separate occasions a few days apart so wasn't super familiar with him. He confessed on both occasions to beating a woman to death in great detail. The when, the where and the why. I reported it but never heard anything back. None of the staff that had worked with him previously had heard this, one nurse told me someone had mentioned he may have vaguely mentioned something about it but didn't know the details. Also not sure if it was the confusion or true, but the amount of details he had and the way he said he was ready to be put away for it was really disturbing.
#21
I’m a hospice nurse. Not as many deathbed confessions because folks usually aren’t lucid/talking at end of life.
Lots of people will have terminal lucidity and say that they’re going to die (or if they have dementia, they might say a bus is coming to get them, or they are going on a trip).
But the big moment-of-death thing that stuck with me was a woman who, literally right before her last breath, opened her eyes, stared at something we couldn’t see, let out a gut-wrenching cry/wail, then died. It really kind of chilled me. I told her family it wasn’t uncommon to have some final burst of energy (true), but didn’t tell them I’d never seen it present like that. Usually it’s just a sigh or a teardrop. Not a f*****g scream.
#22
I’m a nurse now and honestly have seen much more sudden and traumatic deaths since this one, but this one always is the first I think of. Back when I was a CNA at a nursing home about 6 years ago, our scrub color was either teal, purple or medium blue and that day I happened to wear my new light blue scrubs that were a little brighter than technically allowed. I only add this detail because I think it might have played a role here? There was this one resident who was much younger than most there, only in her mid 60s. She was in really rough physical and mental shape due to severe liver failure and other compounding issues for years. She didn’t have much family visit although I heard she had a husband, and she was there for at least a year. She never spoke more than a moan and couldn’t really maintain eye contact or do much. She would just need to be turned and cleaned up often. The day I was wearing those new scrubs and in there cleaning her like normal, she suddenly looked right at me and in a very soft, clear voice said, “you look like an angel.” I remember being pretty shocked that she spoke out loud and kinda just said, “isn’t this a pretty color??” She went back to being nonverbal the rest of the shift and I remember thinking about it a lot until I went home. When I got back in 2 days later I found out she had died in her sleep that night. I never told anyone she spoke because I started to doubt myself and felt really weird. I also got yelled at for wearing those scrubs since they were technically out of uniform lol. I always will remember that woman even though honestly I don’t think anyone else thinks about her anymore.
Victoria Silvas 1 day ago
Aaaaaawwwwww that's nice yeah death is scary which is why I'll NEVER become a doctor because I have PTSD about death.
#23
Working in oncology at the time, had an older gentleman with liver cancer that had spread everywhere including his brain. Having brain mets made him very vague, often nonsensical, he was in and out of consciousness and never really answered questions appropriately in that his answers were very random. This is not unusual for people with brain tumours. He also had a thick Eastern European accent, his kids explained they immigrated from Russia in the late 80s (to Australia).
Our focus was on comfort care for him as he was palliative due to the extensive metastases throughout his body.
Anyways, one day I’m taking his vitals and he grabs my hand, looks me straight in the eyes and just says to me “you know, I have k****d so many people” in his very strong accent. I kind of just froze and didn’t know what to say but he let go and went back to sleep/reduced consciousness.
Often people have a moment of clarity/make sense for a brief episode right before they pass. I didn’t take it as a threat or anything, it just freaked me out. He passed away that evening after my shift was over so I always wondered if this was a deathbed confession of sorts.
#24
That none of her adult kids were her husband’s - and there were 4 of them , and none of them knew.
#25
Wasn’t a confession, but we were called in to transport a patient from the ED to another higher level of care ED. Pt was in a back room, no windows, just kind of sad really. Report was that he had end stage CA, and all the palliative beds were taken & he didn’t have family.
You could tell he didn’t have much time left.
We got him in the back of the ambulance and I could just sense he wanted someone with him when he went. So I held his hand, and I watched him take his last breath at that exact moment.
#26
“I would give all the money I earned to be able to be a present father to my children, and that's what I will do if I survive” he told me this before he was intubated during the COVID pandemic.
Later I learned that he was a very successful businessman but that he never had time for his family. Today, all companies have practically been sold.
#27
I’m in hospice and I’m beyond thinking anything is weird or creepy at this point. I mostly work with pediatric patients but I see adult patients on call for other nurses sometimes.
Most recently, Jim (in his 80’s) told me his grandpa was sitting in the chair in the corner of his room. He said, “I know he’s dead. But he’s there.” I asked if it was scaring him and he said “no, but he’s telling me to not take my medications” I asked him what he thought what would happen if he stopped his meds and he said, “you know.” We stopped his medications and Jim died a week later.
Sylvia was also A&Ox4 but right after being admitted, she started telling me about a tall black figure she was seeing in her apartment. She called him Scratch because he scratched on the doors and walls. He started at the front door, but gradually moved closer and closer to the bed. She wasn’t afraid of him. Eventually he moved past her bed and onto the balcony, and she said he stopped scratching and was refilling her bird feeders and watering her plants.
Benny saw his deceased family peeking into his windows and waving at him from the backyard.
I’ve had a couple of affairs mentioned to me by patients, and one guy who wanted me to find his second family he’d abandoned who wanted nothing to do with him (they declined). Lots of estranged children/estranged parents. Usually people pull it together for the patient. Sometimes it’s a mess.
#28
I work with dementia clients. I have had so many pre death confessions. Sometimes it's Asif the dementia leaves them just before they pass away.
A mind blowing confession I always think about was a veteran who confessed to all the war crimes he committed and how he felt so terrible for all the things he did. He said this was the reason he had no relationship with his family and to be honest I don't blame his family for not having anything to do with him.
#29
As a community nurse. The local vicar had a heart attack and was resuscitated by his wife and ambulance staff, into hospital for a bypass. Arrested and resuscitated on the table. Back home and I was seeing him for dressing changes etc. He and I were chatting and he said that ‘God obviously wanted him by his side’…we chuckled.. He went out with his wife in the car for the first time since his discharge that lunchtime and was k*lled by a tractor as they pulled out of the driveway. Wife was fine.
#30
I work in a nursing home. One of our residents was a well-known local pimp in his younger years. It involved filming videos of young girls for his rental business. Nicest man in the world now. Everyone at the nursing home loves him. Another resident harbored a known serial killer when there was a statewide manhunt for him. She was related by marriage and this was what women did for the men back in the day. She’s in the book about it and everything. A third resident did hard time for having stockpiled explosives in his house. There was enough to have wiped out the houses on either side of him. Now in a nursing home, he steals and hoards things like batteries, wires, etc. and is always building something. We’ve even had the police in to toss his room once.
Those are just a couple of backstories I know. It can make caring for people…complicated. You really have to suspend judgement and deal compassionately with what’s right in front of you.
Kitty 🥀 23 hours ago
I don’t think I could do it. I could be compassionate towards the woman who harbored a killer (maybe she thought he was innocent or that he’d hurt her if she didn’t) and the explosives hoarder because he never actually hurt anyone. But someone who filmed and pimped young girls? Nuh uh. I couldn’t take care of him. Couldn’t do it.
Note: this post originally had 50images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
What do you think ?
Lost Panda 1 day ago
My great grandmother's (102) last words were "Quit crying ya' big babies, I'm old and tired"
marianne eliza 23 hours ago
I have an exit plan. No kids, no nieces or nephews. When i can no longer take care of myself and live independently I will choose the time and place. Won't be messy cuz I don't want anyone to have to deal with that. A nice quiet exit, probably tripping, or high.
Lost Panda 1 day ago
My great grandmother's (102) last words were "Quit crying ya' big babies, I'm old and tired"
marianne eliza 23 hours ago
I have an exit plan. No kids, no nieces or nephews. When i can no longer take care of myself and live independently I will choose the time and place. Won't be messy cuz I don't want anyone to have to deal with that. A nice quiet exit, probably tripping, or high.
You May Like “The Coconut Oil Hair Story”: 30 Of The Darkest Stories People Have Posted Online 35 Shocking And Terrifying Things People Revealed After Intoxication Took Hold 30 Examples Of “Teaching Your Grandparents To Use The Internet” From Previous Generations
Rugile Baltrunaite
Ilona Baliūnaitė
Viktorija Ošikaitė
Related on Bored Panda
