Episode Details

“We give lip service to… ‘what matters in the end’, but are we really living in that way now?” -Dr. Amy Robbins

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EPISODE SUMMARY:

Have you ever seen someone die? Do you know what actually happens? Does it scare you?

Today we talk with Julie McFadden (Hospice Nurse Julie), a hospice nurse whose videos showing people what the process of dying looks like have garnered millions of views. Julie’s mission is to educate people about death and help them feel more comfortable about it since it’s the one thing we all do.

Listen in to hear how Julie got into hospice nursing (it wasn’t her first or even second pick), what active death is and what it’s like, some of the phenomena people often experience close to death, and what life is really all about.

Topics We Discuss:

• [2:56] Julie’s experience creating a cult-like following by talking about death and dying on social media. 

• [4:03] Julie’s shift from ICU nursing to hospice nursing. Death happens a lot in the ICU but isn’t discussed. Julie knew that needed to change. She went into hospice nursing because she knew there had to be a better way to die.

• [10:22] Hospice vs palliative care vs death doulas. 

• [15:29] What is actively dying like? It usually lasts a few hours to a few days. Our body’s natural dying processes kick in, similar to the way our bodies instinctively birth. We all pretty much look the same when we’re actively dying, no matter what disease we’re dying from. The process may seem graphic if you haven’t seen it before, but it’s all normal.

• [22:12] “Rallies” sometimes occur right before someone actively dies. The person can seem almost like they’ve made a full recovery for a day before suddenly dying. “Visioning”, or a dying individual seeing their dead loved ones, typically occurs in the month to weeks before death while the individual is still perfectly lucid. 

• [26:03] Julie knows that visioning is not psychosis or drug-induced delirium or other conditions commonly attributed as the cause because she has seen those things in a clinical setting and says it’s completel