Hospice nurse shares telltale sign someone is close to death – and says ‘it can be beautiful’

on social media - millions of followers on TikTok and other platforms.

In a posted to her , the nurse revealed two telltale signs she often spots in people who don't have long left to live - both of which she observed in a patient she was caring for.

Julie described the first one of these as the 'death stare'.

Despite the ominous title, Julie said this isn't scary thing for people to experience.

"If you're not familiar with the end-of-life phenomena, there's a few things that happen at the end of life to most people," Julie explained.

"One of the things is called a death stare, which is when someone gets really fixated on a certain part of the room, and no matter what you do.

"You can snap your finger right in front of their face - an they will not move their gaze.

'Sometimes they just stare. Sometimes they will talk to someone who you don't see.

"Sometimes they'll have a big smile on their face, like they're seeing something that's obviously making them very happy."

Julie shared how an elderly man she'd recently visited had exhibited the death stare, emphasising how it's nothing to be afraid of.

The man and his wife - his main care giver - were both in their mid to late 90s and been married for 70 years, Julie said.

"I instantly loved these two. They were so, so, so sweet," the nurse recalled.

"They still seemed to be pretty madly in love."

She described her patient as 'pleasantly confused': he could recognise his wife and was happy to see Julie but couldn't keep up with conversations so well.

As Julie was checking him over, she noticed that "he would be looking at me and smiling, then suddenly turn his head and be fixated on another part of the room".

He'd then break out in a "huge smile, like he was seeing something over there," Julie went on.

Even though I am a hospice worker, it still always floors me hearing the stories in real time and seeing them

Julie McFadden

The man kept doing it the whole visit, glazing over as Julie was chatting to him and grinning while she tried - and failed - to get his attention.

"I wanted his wife to see this because a lot of times these end-of-life phenomena can kind of give you a timeline of when this person may be dying," Julie explained to viewers.

"I usually starts happening a few weeks to a month before someone dies."

It turned out that the patient had been staring off into space and smiling for a about a week, multiple times a day.

His wife had even managed to find out what he'd been looking at so intently - "that doesn't happen often", according to Julie.

"He said 'Jesus," the wife told Julie.

The hospice nurse noted that "many people say they see many different things and it usually depends on what religion they are".

"The great thing is, whatever he was seeing, he was very happy, and he was smiling," Julie stressed.

But "sometimes  they don't see any kind of deity at all. They say: 'I see beautiful clouds' or 'I see flowers'. Some people see Jesus or God or angels."

End-of-life 'visioning'

Another telltale sign Julie often witnesses in people who don't have long is what she called 'end-of-life visioning'.

"It's one of the main phenomena's that we see as healthcare workers at the end of life," the hospice nurse said.

"This is when someone sees someone who has died already that they usually love and know," Julie went on.

This could be their parents, other relatives, an old friend, even a pet.

A person at experiencing 'visioning' might even "have conversations right in front of us with these people that we don't see", Julie said.

As Julie talked to her patient's wife, it emerged that he was experiencing end-of-life visioning too.

The wife shared that her sister had recently passed away but she'd been reluctant to share it with her husband for fear of saddening him when he was already in a vulnerable state.

After a week of feeling guilty, she decided to come clean to her husband - but it turned out he already knew.

According to Julie, he matter-of-factly told his wife: "She came to me last week and told me she had died."

The nurse said: "I'm getting chills telling you this story."

The wife told Julie that her husband was smiling as he told her this "like he was OK with it".

"Even though I am a hospice worker who tells you over and over again that these things happen all the time, which is true, it still always floors me hearing the stories in real time and seeing them," Julie added.

She's not the first hospice nurse to share that death can be beautiful, with TikTok nurse  stating that dying should be celebrated.

Meanwhile, a doctor revealed the four things that happen to everyone as they die.