• Nurse Julie McFadden shares a sign that someone is about to die
  • She works in a hospice for those needing end-of-life care
  • The hospice nurse has also written a book Nothing To Fear
Hospice nurse
A hospice nurse gave some insight into her job

A hospice nurse has revealed one sweet sign that heavily implies that someone is about to pass away.

Julie McFadden shared one of her greatest insights into knowing when it is time for one of her patients to pass away. Along with working as a hospice nurse, she has published Nothing To Fear, a book based on her experience watching 100s of people die in her care.

In a video, she said, “Here’s one sign that someone is close to death that most people don’t believe happens,” before going on to describe something known as ‘visioning’.

“Usually, a few weeks to a month before someone dies, if they’re on hospice, they will start seeing dead loved ones, dead relatives, dead pets,” McFadden continued. “This happens so often that we actually put it in our educational packets that we give to patients and their families when they come on hospice so they aren’t surprised or scared when it happens,”

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What else did the hospice nurse say about death?

McFadden admitted that she didn’t understand exactly why it happened but it was a common occurrence.

“We don’t know why it happens, but we see it in definitely more than half of our patients,” she added.

Many think this happens because of a lack of oxygen in the brain but the nurse debunked this.

“Because when it does happen, most people are alert and oriented and are at least a month from death, so they don’t have low oxygen,”

Loved ones of those getting hospice care are often warned this will happen. However, concerns are soothed by the reassurance it is supposed to be pleasurable to those experiencing it.

Who else has spoken of visioning?

Christopher Kerr, the CEO of Hospice & Palliative Care, a hospice care provider in Buffalo, New York, also spoke of the phenomenon. He spoke about how often its indescribable nature was what made it so profound.

“I have witnessed cases where what I was seeing was so profound, and the meaning for the patient was so clear and precise, that I almost felt like an intruder,” Kerr said to BBC Brazil.

“And trying to decipher the etiology, the cause, seemed futile. I concluded that it was simply important to have reverence, that the fact that I could not explain the origin and process did not invalidate the experience for the patient.”