Hospice nurse reveals grim reality of what happens to human body minutes, hours and days after death
Hospice Nurse Julie is on a mission to remove the stigma and fear surrounding death.
The registered nurse previously worked in the intensive care unit and ‘saw a lot of death.’
She says on her website: ‘As healthcare workers, we would talk amongst ourselves about the likelihood of our patients dying, but we wouldn’t be talking with the patients or families.
‘This [led] me to want to speak up and advocate for my patients and their families and start having family meetings.’
This transitioned her into hospice nursing where she ‘saw the power each body has to die naturally and how beautiful it really was.’
Now, Nurse Julie posts educational videos to her YouTube channel answering common questions people have about dying.
In one recent video that has been viewed more than 580,000 times, the nurse explains exactly what happens in the moments, hours and days after someone dies.
The body goes through several stages in the death and decomposition process, Nurse Julie said
IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH
In the immediate moments after death, the body completely relaxes. This is the first stage of decomposition, called hypostasis.
Nurse Julie said: ‘All of the things in your body that are holding fluids in, relaxes. That’s why death can be messy sometimes.’
Because of how relaxed the body becomes, those who have just died may urinate, have bowel moments or experience bodily fluids coming out of their nose, mouth, ears or eyes.
She added: ‘I like to talk about it so people aren’t surprised if that happens – very normal and to be expected sometimes.’
This is also when the stage of decomposition called autolysis, or ‘the self-digestion’ stage, occurs and enzymes begin to breakdown oxygen-deprived tissue.
Next, the body temperature drops.
Everyone’s body reacts differently, Nurse Julie said, and some will experience an immediate drop in body temperature while cooling may not begin for others until an hour or two after they’ve died – known as the algor mortis stage of decomposition.
The hospice nurse said the body temperature typically drops by 1.5 degrees per hour until it eventually reaches the temperature of whatever room the body is in.
SEVERAL HOURS AFTER DEATH
As the body settles into death, Nurse Julie said the blood will begin to pool downward toward the ground.
She said: ‘If you let someone lie there for long enough – which we do sometimes; you don’t have to hurry up and make sure your loved one leaves the house – if you turn them you will notice usually the back of their legs the whole backside of them will look purple or darker that’s because all their blood is pulling down.
‘Gravity is pulling it down. So they will eventually get a darker color tone of skin on their backside.’
One to two hours after death is also when rigor mortis sets in and continues for about the next 24 hours.
Rigor mortis is the stiffening of a person’s muscles after death, which is caused when the body’s metabolism stops and there is a depletion of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
ATP is needed in the body to breakdown the actin-myosin filaments in the muscle fibers. These filaments are what contract and relax to allow for movement when a person is alive.
When a person dies and their ATP is depleted, actin and myosin cannot be broken down, leading to the permanent contraction of the muscles and stiffening of the body.
Nurse Julie said: ‘I have seen people become very stiff almost immediately – like a few minutes – after death and other people, their body takes longer.’
Rigor mortis occurs in the small muscles first, such as the eyes and face, then it migrates to the neck, trunk, body, hands, fingertips and toes.
Additionally, about 12 hours after death, the body will feel cool to the touch.
24 TO 36 HOURS AFTER DEATH
Hospice Nurse Julie explained exactly what happens in the moments, hours and days after someone dies
About a day to a day and a half after a person dies, rigor mortis subsides and the body will begin to loosen again.
Nurse Julie said the body’s tissues relax and cause the stiffness to break down.
By this time the body is usually in the mortuary, which will prepare the body in whichever way the family has requested, whether it is for burial or cremation.
She added: ‘In a world where people didn’t have access to a mortuary or a healthcare system and they just died naturally, our bodies are built to, after death, decompose.’
Twenty-four hours is also when the body has been cooled to its core temperature to match the temperature of their environment
FOUR TO 10 DAYS AFTER DEATH
The last stage of decomposition is called putrefaction. During this stage, gases are released from the body that cause an odor and there is further discoloration of the skin.
During putrefaction, the intricate body processes stop and the delicate balance of bacteria in our bodies is upset.
The bacteria then feed on tissue, causing bloating, and they eventually migrate to the liver, spleen, heart and brain.
The body begins to expel gases like methane and ammonia, giving off a foul odor.
10 TO 20 DAYS AFTER DEATH
Black Putrefaction occurs between 10 and 20 days after death when the exposed body turns black, further bloats and releases fluids and more odors.
Nurse Julie said: ‘This is the part when the body is literally decompensating and how we would die and how the body would die before we had things like mortuaries. So it is a very normal thing.
‘However, we usually aren’t exposed to it… but this is a natural part of the body decomposing.’
