re: Have you ever seen a dead body or watch someone die?

I've watched two people die.

As a medic I have many times, but have brought many back from death also

ETA: Wrecks and gunshots are the worst. They are talking to you and later succumb. Usually they die in the ER though, not with me. Had an older guy once talking to me and felt weak. Was telling me a joke and went quiet, I was taking vitals and looked up and cardiac arrest. We got him back but he died the next day.

Back in college I was leaving a friends apartment and broke my ankle walking to the car; I hobbled in and drove myself to the ER.

They put me in a wheel chair and pushed me into the hallway where the ambulances bring in trauma patients. Three doctors came from behind me to meet the ambulances at the door. They wheeled the first person into the hallway and they were already doing chest compressions on him, and called time of death about 5 feet away from me. The second person was rushed through and quickly defibrillated on the way back into the ER. The third person was in much better shape but still in critical condition.

It was a family that had gotten into a wreck. The dad died in front of me, the mom was brought back to life and the kid survived. It was a night I’ll never forget.

* just saw the “good story” after this post. It’s not meant to be a good story, just an account of a tragedy that I happened to witness.

Was a senior in high school traveling with team on school bus to a baseball game. I lived in a rural area so we played against a lot of smaller schools.
Bus came to a 2-way stop in the middle of farm country and there was a guy laying in the middle of the road bleeding out. His truck was in a ditch smashed to shite. 18-wheeler that hit him was parked on side of the road. A 3 or 4 year old kid was by the truck crying, someone was holding him. There were a few other people at the scene, no police or ambulance. Our bus driver was an EMT so he stopped to see if he could help, but the guy died while we waited. Bus driver got on bus and said that the old guy was was drunk and had run the stop sign and got nailed by the 18 wheeler. The kid was his grandson, and thankfully uninjured.
The whole thing was pretty shocking. Went from playing spades to watching someone die in a span of a few seconds.

I found my uncle dead in his house. He wouldn't answer his phone for a couple of days and I didn't want to make anyone else in my family have to deal with it if he had passed. It's a pretty jarring experience.

My father right after he died.

I got there about 15 minutes after he passed away

I’ve seen many dead bodies; some died of natural causes, some by accident, some at their own hand, and some at the hands of others. I’ve seen people die, I’ve seen them right after death and in various stages of decomposition. I’ve seen them young, old and in between. Never get used to it.

Saw what I initially thought was a deer get hit by a car and launch over its hood about 200 feet in front of me one early evening. As I slowed down to help the driver I realized it was a man who was very, very dead. That one sucked.

Also, a man who was standing close to me at a SC football game had a brain aneurysm and just fell backward, smacking his head on the pavement. I guess I was the only one who noticed because everyone standing around him was just looking at him, motionless. I ran to get him EMS and found out he unfortunately died later in the hospital.

I haven’t talked about this much, I found just typing these stories out was somewhat therapeutic.

Saw 2 people on a motorcycle hit a car broadside and both convulsed and bled to death in minutes.
Drove up on another accident and the woman driver was split open from her forehead to her chest. I was at her car door within a minute and she was already dead.
I still remember her name, age, and city from the obituary.

Yes and yes.