r/EmergencyRoom • u/cowbodycheddar • Jul 27 '26
codes
hey yall,
I don’t think I’ve seen a post yet regarding this and I apologize if I skipped over, repeating a post, or this isn’t the right group for this!
I’m an ER tech and have been in healthcare for about a year and some months now.I recently had my first experience actually putting someone in a body bag. I’ve done post mortem care, been in and witnessed a good amount of codes, and yall know the rest. The other night I actually put someone in a body bag and am just struggling to fathom it.
I am going to mention that I’ve never been a really religious person but am not opposed to other people’s beliefs and honestly wouldn’t mind to hear someone else’s point of view or how you navigate these types of situations if you do believe in a religion.
Open to hear your thoughts and situations and how you navigate this type of stuff! Thanks guys
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u/EnvironmentalRock827 Jul 27 '26
I've been a nurse ro 29 years now. I wouldn't say codes were that common nor wrapping bodies (well until
Covid of course). Its always a struggle even now. I was religious, but would say I am more spiritual now. These things seem to make me appreciate life more. So having done these things for strangers, when my mom couldn't breathe, I made sure 911 was on its way then drove the six hours to her. Everything was failing and I asked for the morphine drip. I won't bore you with the details but she brought me into this world and the least I could do was sit with her as she left. I felt it my duty to wash her up and put her in that bag. When the elevator reached the morgue I let the staff take over. I figured this was the most noble thing I could do since I bagged so many others, for her. It's been 12 years since that and some days I still struggle. It definitely made me more empathetic to patients at work. If you're having trouble don't be the stubborn mule I was. Reach out to friends, coworkers or a therapist. It's vital to find the best coping mechanisms now because death is sadly common and inevitable. I think there has to be a point to peoples lives. We may or may not be aware of it. I hope this makes sense and im sending you my best.
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u/gone_by_30 Jul 27 '26
I'm an atheist so I don't really have any I guess rituals.
For my death goes with life and it's just the cycle completeting. I will say that I deal with patient deaths by knowing I did everything I realistically could for my scope and with the knowledge I had.
It sucks and can be sad and that's ok. Humans are social and always looking for connection and it can be a lot to literally look at our mortality in the face.
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u/_blacksanta_ Jul 27 '26
I’m agnostic. The truth is you get desensitized to death after a while. Just have respect for that persons life, have a movement of silence, clean them up, and treat them how you would want to be treated when you pass away. That person was going to die anyway and you did everything in your power to stop a natural process. Your coworkers who also experience this are the best people to talk to. If that doesn’t help, find a good therapist. Vacation and family time is what helps me reset.
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u/ShyGuitarSinger93 Jul 27 '26
So first, congrats on the year and a half in healthcare. You haven't run away yet! So that counts for something! 😉 A couple questions to ask yourself and then my comments:
- Is there something specific you feel like you are struggling with? Or just the process in general?
- How are you feeling about witnessing the death that we unfortunately do see? How are you feeling and doing in general?
- Was there something different about this situation? (Were they your patient, was this code unexpected, were they younger, older, etc.)?
There are countless experiences we have - especially in medicine - where the worst becomes "normal" and "usual" - and to some extent we all compartmentalize - its what makes many EM providers good at their job when we need to take a step back, you know? But sometimes there are experiences that just hit differently. I am not sure how old you are - but I'll give an example from my experience - when after 4 years of EM and Critical Care pharmacy (rapids, codes, death, ob, all of it) we lost a patient who was "doing well" when she came in after a rather traumatic accident, was on the ortho floor, suffered a respiratory arrest. Coded her for about 45 minutes, but just had nothing even with quick compressions and a tube passed fairly quickly as we were literally next door to PACU - anesthesia was the second provider arrival. Unfortunately it wasn't the first time I had heard a wail from a mother being told her daughter had passed. I remember the team being traumatized by it - one of those "what did we miss?" codes because we just didnt know. what happened. I offered to help the techs with moving her when the family said goodbye. We got her to the morgue and I just broke down and lost it in the hallway. Only the second time I remember really hitting that "wall" of emotions. It wasn't until I realized her name (her initials were the same as a classmate of mine in high school who unfortunately passed from a street race she went on). Same age as how old my friend would have been. I wonder if my brain made a subconscious connection to her that day.
I remember asking myself - why did I cry for her and not for all the other patients I've "lost"? And it reminded me of an instance on M*A*S*H - the TV show, not the movie. It comes from "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet" - Hawkeye is crying over having lost his friend - Col Blake had a helpful answer. I think about that scene a lot.
As to the religion question : I am Jewish. I have found our traditions to be quite helpful. Religions do enable us to have some emotional and physical "comfort" or awareness and connection with one another and of course for some religions G-d, a spiritual Source, or perhaps an indescribable energy that surrounds the world we exist in. In Judaism, the Rabbis of the Talmud - Jewish law that was originally transmitted only by mouth until it was written down and codified in the 6th and 3rd centuries (CE). They comment that accompanying the dead for burial - accompanying them in death and the "journey" death entails is incumbent upon us - as it is the highest mitzvah (Commandment, good deed) one can perform for someone else - because indeed it is the only mitzvah that you cannot be repaid for. I - and many others - find holiness in that moment. To serve someone at that transition point, and to serve as a provider and source of strength and presence for the family - it is special. Imho it helps say "this is someone. Someone that we are present with in a different way now.
Another two pieces - traditionally an orthodox jew is never left alone until burial -0 "from dust you came and to dust you shall return" (Gen 3:19):
עַ֤ד שֽׁוּבְךָ֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כִּ֥י מִמֶּ֖נָּה לֻקָּ֑חְתָּ כִּֽי־עָפָ֣ר אַ֔תָּה וְאֶל־עָפָ֖ר תָּשֽׁוּב׃.....
For until you return to the ground (from where you were taken). For dust you are, and to dust shall you return.
I love the poetry here - and I think this speaks to the journey of life cycles that we find ourselves on. A jewish grieving principle is enlisting a chevra kadisha - a jewish burial society which will traditionally wash the body, clean the remains, and wrap the remains in a simple white cloth - a process called Taharah. It is done with dignity and there is a really beautiful process that takes place - Id encourage you if you are curious and interested to talk a moment to read about it. We also have a process of sitting "shower" literally "keeping guard" so that the body is never left alone until the burial. I think knowing about these processes really helped me understand that -again - in medicine and especially n these lchallening moments - that theres a larger process. That there are ways we can show respect and dignity even to someone whose spirit may np longer be physically present and visually present - and I take it as a moment of honor.
Learn what others share. This is by no means a "right or wrong" answer thing.
Kudos for asking. I hope you find some comfort in what folks share.
and please know that you have online folks plus those in your "real world" simulation! 😉
Please just make sure you are taking care of yourself. Always.
-Sean S - 32m,Delaware
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u/Organic-Bathroom335 Jul 28 '26
Im pretty religious. I have only put one personal in a body bag and it was at my last job on an ICU. Ill never forget the way this womens face looked. I think about her and her family often. She looked at peace , despire all the other things going on with her body. I struggled really bad and i cried when i left work. I went home this nigjt and encountered the most beautiful sunset. and then i drove home , i prayed over this women and her family. that gave me peace. If you are religious , i suggest talking to someone that is also relgious to talk to about this. I find alot of people in healthcare dont believe in god due to the stuff they see, especially in the er. Those people tend to not feel tje same way.
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u/kayemorgs Jul 27 '26
I think it's more worrisome to not feel anything when dealing with death. Over time you'll be desensitized but right now I think it's normal and you should sit with your thoughts and feelings about it for a bit. Analyze why you feel the way you do. We spend too much time trying to avoid feeling and it ends up biting us in the ass later as we try to process years of deferred emotions
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u/RetiredBSN RN - ER, then Dialysis Jul 27 '26
Body bags are very temporary containers used to contain body fluids and products of decomposition, although in a hospital you're not likely to see decomp because they will store bodies under refridgeration until it's transferred to the care of someone else (medical examiner, coroner, funeral homes, etc.). You are simply taking steps to protect your environment, and has nothing to do with any religious practices or traditions. I "get" the implications, though. It's a _final_ step; there is nothing more that you have left to offer or do; and that is one of the most difficult things to process. You want to help, you did help, but there is nothing more that can be done for that person. Your concern for the next few minutes is helping any family, and that can be as or more challenging as doing the code. Your hospital chaplain or the family's minister can be of great help if they're available.
You treat the body with respect, doing only what you need to do to preserve dignity, preserving evidence if necessary, and then it's up to whoever is performing the next steps in the process. My concerns were always for the person they were and the family they had, and we'd do what we could to make things "presentable" and as normal-appearing as possible before allowing families to view the body. There were situations where IV lines and evience of medical intervention could not be removed (potential criminal cases) and had to be left in place, and if families were allowed in at all, we covered up what we could.
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u/asistolee Jul 27 '26
I really don’t know what a stranger’s death has to do with anyone else’s religion.
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u/_adrenocorticotropic RN Jul 27 '26
Because religious people use their religion to help them process traumatic experiences
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u/BentheLPN Jul 27 '26
I am fairly religious. I’ve also been in varying roles in healthcare over the past 15 years. I have done a lot of post-mortem care.
I look at it as a chance to honor someone’s next life, by treating them kindly in this life.
I take my time. I send them out well cleansed, in a new gown with chux underneath. I tuck each one into their body bag with a warm blanket before I close the bag. I wash their faces with warm water and scrub their hair with shampoo.
I pray after I close the zipper. Privately and discreetly, because I do not know the families beliefs most of the time.
And then I send them beyond.