- Joined
- Sep 8, 2013
Had a client who got one on her hip + upper thigh. She'd been turned to her side to relieve pressure on her tailbone (which was just a giant ulcer at this point).You definitely already know about this, but for anyone else interested in this topic, there's also a phenomenon called a Kennedy terminal ulcer which happens to some people as they die. During the process of death, the organs, including the skin, begin to shut down. Breathing and heart rate slow and blood pressure decreases. Without oxygenated blood, normal cellular function cannot continue and cells die. It's a cascade of events culminating in the cessation of all the body's biological processes.
One of the natural steps in this process is breakdown of the skin, especially over the buttocks and sacrum (tailbone), areas prone to pressure ulcers even in patients who aren't terminal. A Kennedy terminal ulcer is usually regarded as a sign of imminent death. They can develop within only a few hours and they are really horrifying. I think that the patient is generally not lucid or even aware at the point a terminal ulcer develops, but they are understandably extremely upsetting for caregivers and family.
You can Google "Kennedy terminal ulcer", but be warned that the images will be disturbing, to such an extent that I'm not going to post any here, even with a spoiler.
Edited to add that the term "acute skin failure" is also used, for anyone who is sufficiently fucked up to want more things to Google.
She died a few days later.