I have seen death twice (once on a research animal, once in a family member) and the two were so similar it took me a while to get over it.
Im sorry if my question seems incredibly insensitive to you. I just want to understand how seeing death in a research animal and a human can be compared in the same sentence. Ive killed lots of rats and mice, and although its sad to see them die, I cant understand how the death of an animal can be compared to the death of an actual person. Gosh. If I counted all the rats, mice, rabbits, dogs, hamsters, etc, Ive seen die, I guess i can say ive witnessed "death" hundreds of times. Again, Im not trying to be insensitive, but if you could please explain...I highly doubt im the only one wondering this...
I saw a woman die in a nursing home/hospice once, but she was DNR and it was peaceful and what she wanted. I saw a dead guy get rolled into an ER, but they determined he was already dead so dont know if that counts.
Pakbabydoll, I agree with what alot of ppl on this page are saying. Its tough, you hope to never get desensitized to it, but in a way, you just get used to it and start to see it as a part of life. Seeing somoene die in a nursing home helped me understand that death doesnt have to be "traumatic." She was nearly 100 years old, her kids were there, as were some of her grandkids too. I didnt really know her well, I had visited her a few times and I was around that day...I think she knew she was on her way out, and had come to grips with it, and the staff did all they could to make her as comfortable as possible...I guess I felt "ok" with seeing all of it, because it didnt seem traumatic at all. It seemed like everything happened so peacefully...I dont know.
But im really sorry for what you went thru...unfortunately im sure it wont be the last death youll see as a future dr...