What really happens when we die? Palliative care doctor on a ‘mission to take away the fear’ reveals the stages the body goes through

• Kathryn Mannix, 64, is raising awareness about the final moments before death 
• READ MORE: I died and saw the afterlife my deceased relatives turned me away 

A retired doctor has revealed what the final moments before death look like, in a bid to help people ‘tackle the fear’ of passing on.

Cheshire-born doctor Dr Kathryn Mannix, 64 – who spent 30 years as a palliative care doctor – appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour alongside host Emma Barnett, to discuss her new short animation ‘Dying for Beginners’.

In a snippet posted to Instagram, Kathryn broke down the process, and what happens to your body, which she compared to an ‘old mobile phone’ that fails to charge.

In a bid to dispel some of the fears around death, she said towards the end of life a lot of people will be unconscious. 

‘It’s not a frightening mental state to be in, it’s a state of not knowing anything,’ she said.  

Dr Kathryn Mannix (pictured), 64, appeared on an episode of BBC Woman’s Hour to discuss her new short animation ‘Dying for Beginners’

Answering Emma’s request to explain the ‘process’ behind dying, she said: ‘The first thing that’s noticeable is just that the body starts to run out of energy, almost like when you’ve got an old mobile phone and the battery won’t stay charged.

‘And the charger is sleep. More than food, more than drink. And in fact a lot of dying people don’t feel very hungry and that’s fine. They’re not dying because they’re not eating. They’re not eating because their body is dying.

‘So as time goes by people gradually need more sleep to give them intervals of enough energy to think and do what they can. And gradually people become not just asleep, but unconscious.

‘Now they don’t recognise the difference. It’s not a frightening mental state to be in, it’s a state of not knowing anything’. 

The expert explained that as your body enters its final moments, you become unconscious ‘all of the time’ as life ebbs away – a far cry from the drama often depicted in Hollywood movies.

She also addressed the so-called death rattle, laboured breathing that can sound distressing. 

She explained: ‘The brain runs reflex breathing patterns that move backwards and forwards between quite deep breathing that gradually becomes more  shallow.

‘And then back to the beginning again, and backwards and forwards between periods of quite slow breathing, more rapid breathing, back to slow breathing again.

‘Now if you haven’t seen that before, you might think that the person who is breathing, perhaps fast but shallow, is struggling to breathe or is panting or is uncomfortable.’

Dr Kathryn described this as a sign of ‘deep unconsciousness’, and urged others to take note of the symptoms as they creep in.

The retired palliative care doctor revealed what the final moments before death look like, in a bid to help people ‘tackle the fear’ of passing on

During the interview, Kathryn broke down the process behind your last breath, including what happens to your body, which she compared to an ‘old mobile phone’ that fails to charge

She also raised awareness about the facts of death, hoping for it to be seen as ‘ordinary’, as opposed to ‘frightening’, adding that ‘it’s a state of not knowing anything’

The expert spoke with host Emma Barnett in the latest episode of BBC Woman’s Hour 

‘This person is quite safe,’ she added. ‘And then at the very end of somebody’s life there will usually be one of those slow breathing phases.

‘There will be a breath out that just doesn’t have another breath in after it, which is not at all what Hollywood has lead us all to expect.’

She said that knowing these facts will not make death any less sad for people’s loved ones, but she hopes it will make it seem less scary.  

‘To take away the fear, I think is the mission I’m on,’ she concluded.

Kathryn qualified as a cognitive behaviour therapist in 1993, before starting the UK’s first CBT clinic exclusively for palliative care patients.

Last year, she wrote Listen:How to Find the Words for Tender Conversation – a book about having honest conversations around death.

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