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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want to shout at my new colleague "you didn't die, if you had you wouldn't be here talking shite"

169 replies

Whatdoesitmatteranyway · 07/05/2019 09:13

Just that.

Apparently he was in a bad accident several years ago and "died" three times.

No he didn't. We haven't the ability to resurrect people.

DH does this as well. Tells me about his friend who "died" for 10 minutes after a heart episode. I have pointed out that he can't have died and I get told that no, he did. the doctors told him.

I want to go find a plank and hit either me or him over the head with it - which ever is quickest to shut up his bollocks.

I want to get an ad campaign stating this bloody obvious point because its ridiculous the number of people who parrot it out.

OP posts:
NameChangeSameRage · 07/05/2019 09:42

No he didn't. We haven't the ability to resurrect people.

No, but we have the ability to resuscitate people whose hearts and lungs have stopped working- they are "dead", even if just for seconds. (and will definitely be dead in every sense if left).

I would imagine the whole experience was very traumatic for him.

CylindraceousNicholas · 07/05/2019 09:44

Being pedantic- he was clinically dead, but not biologically dead- they are two seperate things. So yes, he was 'dead' but not dead, dead (biologically dead).

That's what I thought. He is going by what the doctors told him, he was clinically dead and resuscitated. Bit weird to hold that against him

BarbarianMum · 07/05/2019 09:44

Not dead but resting?

Define death then you'll know whether you are being unreasonable or not.

Sux2buthen · 07/05/2019 09:44

Well whatever, you can be pissy if you want op but I've got nothing but sympathy for the poor sod you're talking about. How awful for them.

CurtainsOpen · 07/05/2019 09:47

@JaneJeffer

10/10 Grin Grin

ClockworkNightingale · 07/05/2019 09:48

It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Grin

Being pedantic- he was clinically dead, but not biologically dead- they are two seperate things. So yes, he was 'dead' but not dead, dead (biologically dead).

Concur. We're fortunate enough to have the knowledge and tech to sometimes (rarely) resuscitate people before their tissues degrade to the point of no return, but you're dead until you've been resuscitated.

Sicario · 07/05/2019 09:50

How does it feel to be reanimated? Is it like what happened in that movie?

LillithsFamiliar · 07/05/2019 09:53

You know what he meant. As PPs have said yy he was clinically dead. It seems an odd thing to upset you. If you're determined to be pedantic, it would be better to start with being accurate.

Daenerys77 · 07/05/2019 09:55

Is your colleague a bit socially inadequate OP? I ask because it not the sort of thing one would necessarily share with brand new acquaintances.

Youwantshoesinashoeshop · 07/05/2019 09:58

Do you work with my new colleague, I wonder?!?!?!

Slightly older man, maybe 50 or so, chatterbox extraordinaire?!?!
If so, d'you know... he DIED! 3 TIMES...

qazxc · 07/05/2019 09:58

No, he didn't die.
You die when your brain does, not when your heart stops, hence the need to stop life support.
Hearts can be restarted, brains can't.
Death is not a temporary state.

Devonishome1 · 07/05/2019 09:58

If your heart stops beating you are technically dead.

OwlBeThere · 07/05/2019 09:58

What a stupid thing to get so wound up over. That kind of accident/experience can be hugely traumatising. I stopped breathing for nearly 6 minutes after a bad car accident and whilst I don’t feel the need to talk about it anymore there was a time when I did because it completely freaked me out.

NCforthis2019 · 07/05/2019 09:58

He did clinically die. My cousin when through this - it affected him him whole life - he’s better now, but the trauma of knowing he might not have come back has shaped his whole life. It’s a big thing for him - and we try and understand, we try and be kind. We listen.

Maybe find some sympathy for someone how has been through such a trauma rather than slating them?

EverybodysTalkingAtMe · 07/05/2019 09:59

I have a friend who was clinically dead for 20 minutes and was a medical marvel in that they managed to bring him back.

It has affected his life HUGELY - he lost his job because of his new medical status, suffered from years of depression and us only just now finding solace in his art.

The one thing he needs to be able to explain about himself is that he died. It's an enormous thing that most of us will never experience or suffer from. It informs his whole existence now. I feel that the least you could do is reserve judgement on your colleague and his experience.

LunafortJest · 07/05/2019 09:59

Sorry but you couldn't be more wrong even though you genuinely believe you are right. There is a MEDICAL TERM called "Clinically Dead". It is a medical, and a legal term. It denotes a situation where there is no heartbeat and no pulse. I first heard the term from a surgeon when my own mother had been declared Clinically Dead before being revived with the irons on the chest thing.

Tolleshunt · 07/05/2019 10:00

Not sure why you're getting so agitated about this? Maybe focus on your own stuff more.

The man went through something extremely traumatic. You could try empathising.

GirlRaisedInTheSouth · 07/05/2019 10:01

Once the heart has STOPPED beating, there is no way back. As someone on another thread mentioned earlier, you need a pulse - however faint - to get the heart rhythm going again.

MindyStClaire · 07/05/2019 10:01

You could try being sympathetic to someone who's clearly been very seriously ill.

DecomposingComposers · 07/05/2019 10:06

Once the heart has STOPPED beating, there is no way back. As someone on another thread mentioned earlier, you need a pulse - however faint - to get the heart rhythm going again.

That is completely untrue. In cardiac arrest there is no heart beat and no pulse. Sometimes this is reversible and the patient is resuscitated. Often times it is not. In an asystole arrest there would be no difference between the patient being resuscitated and the patient when resuscitation stops and they are declared dead.

A patient on a heart bypass machine or ECMO also have no heart beat or pulse.

GirlRaisedInTheSouth · 07/05/2019 10:08

It’s really sad that he thinks that’s the most interesting fact he has to present about himself Sad.

CitadelsofScience · 07/05/2019 10:09

I forgot this part Op. It can be very traumatic and many of us develop ptsd afterwards and this doesn't just magically disappear after a few weeks. Some of us can still recall every second of led to us being clinically dead many, many years later...

M3lon · 07/05/2019 10:13

I thought death occurred due to lack of oxygen to the brain. So your not dead til your brain is dead too.

There are a lot of doctors guilty of murder if stopping the heart is killing someone......every single one who performed any kind of bypass surgery for example.

Butchyrestingface · 07/05/2019 10:13

It’s really sad that he thinks that’s the most interesting fact he has to present about himself Sad.

Who says he does?

Maybe his life has been so interesting that he doesn’t think the rank and file could deal with the sheer mind blowingness of it all so picks the least interesting thing about himself to divulge - namely, that his heart stopped three times. Grin

sweeneytoddsrazor · 07/05/2019 10:14

Its just a phrase and you know exactly what it means. It is also extremely difficult to forget it happened. I was resuscitated when I had my last DD and it took a very long time to stop thinking every day what would have happened to them if I had actually died. I get he might bore you but it is a very strange feeling to know you have been so close to death and your life literally was in someone else's hands.