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We Stopped Life Support For My Father ( COPD Patient)

Posted on Wed, 6 Feb 2019

Question: We stopped life support for my father (COPD patient) and he died in 10mins. The nurses then wrapped the patient and set us an ambulance to go home. The ambulance driver drove very bad. After we reached home we saw blood coming out of my father's head.. will there be bleeding after being declaraed death?

Answered by Dr. Dr.Arnab (39 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Yes, bleeding is possible, follow the advice, please...

Detailed Answer:
Hello and Welcome to 'Ask A Doctor' service...
I've gone through your query in details...
I can understand your concerns...

First of all, please accept my condolences!!

Yes, it's possible to bleed from the wounds even after declared death (at least for the first few minutes to even several hours, depending on the area and severity of the wound)...Head is a highly vascular area and it's possible to bleed after any microvascular tissue injury...

I'd recommend, take some gauze pieces, put some tincture benzoin/iodine solution and apply that over the wound (put some pressure firmly for 2-3minutes while applying)...please observe after that...

If there's still any blood coming out please apply a gauze dressing over the area (any nearby pharmacist/nursing stuff should be able to do it)...

Let me know if I can assist you further...

Take Care
Kind Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Follow up: Dr. Dr.Arnab (14 minutes later)

Does it mean the patient still feel pain? I m getting confused how does blood circulates after heart stops beating ?

Answered by Dr. Dr.Arnab (5 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
no, absolutely not, please see the detalied answer below...

Detailed Answer:
Welcome back,

No, the patient can't feel anything in this scenario (after officially being declared dead)...

Please don't confuse...although the heart stopped beating after death, the blood products are still there inside the veins and capillaries (they are the ones carrying them back to the heart while the heart pumps out fresh blood through the arteries)...

In fact, the blood mostly remains inside the blood-vessels only and become clotted afterward (may take several hours), so it's quite possible to bleed from injuries despite being already declared dead...

Hope this answers your query...
Let me know if there are any more doubts...

Take Care
Kind Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Answered by Dr. Dr.Arnab (10 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
follow-up consultation...

Detailed Answer:
Welcome back,

Well, since I was not present in that scenario, certainly I can't say that without examining the situation as well as the patient...

However, as per your description, this may cause such injury resulting in bleeding from the head...

Hope this answers your query...

Feel free to ask in case of any more doubts...

Take Care
Kind Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee

Follow up: Dr. Dr.Arnab (0 minute later)

Due to rash driving of ambulance driver, the patient moved and hit on his head. So as per the abive discussion, this would have caused any injury and resulted in bleeding from head ?