Highest Rated Comments


Baelliin196 karma

Haha no not yet. I have had to transport a body from a hospital room with another patient sleeping right on the other side of the curtain however, although that's definitely not the same. Whenever I get a call for transport, it is either from a nurse or police officer that has confirmed the body to be dead, taking the Time Of Death, so it's highly unlikely that the situation would occur, although you see some crazy stuff in this line of work.

Baelliin141 karma

Well definitely my craziest, and also worst experience was a decomposition in a hoarder house. When I say hoarder house, I mean like TLC's Hoarding Buried Alive type stuff. Garbage up to the ceiling, rotting fridge, spiders and roaches everywhere, going to the bathroom in tea jugs, all the rooms blocked off except one small bedroom with one small path. It was horrendous. Of course then this was also a three week decomposing body, inside this small hot hoarder house, so the smell was horrible, and the body itself was heavily decomposed, covered in maggots and bones showing through the simultaneously dry and leaking skin. The picture I painted is pretty awful right? Well on top of all this, the deceased was also 300+ pounds. It took three of us about 2-3 hours to get the deceased out, as there was so much stuff blocking the way to moving him anywhere, and it was so heavily decomposed and disgusting inside. Eventually we were able to drag him out to the gurney outside (as there was no way to get it in the front door). and load him up. It was definitely a pretty awful experience, but it makes for one hell of a story.

Baelliin139 karma

You definitely have to be tactical in the way you work with/around the family. Some people are pretty together and can give you the information pretty easy, and are relatively calm. Other times, theyre hysterical and in that case the deputy or nurse can give you what you need. I usually try to assess the situation first before speaking. Generally, I like to of course introduce myself first. I then get the information I need for the paperwork. After that, when I'm ready to begin, I explain exactly each step of what I'm going to do, making sure that the family is ready for me to go ahead. This is usually the most vital, as it answers most of their questions and makes them feel very comforted. Once we have the body on the gurney, I always give the family as much time as they want to spend with their loved one before I transport. Basically, as long as youre slow, patient, and explain exactly what youre going to do, it all tends to run really smoothly.

Baelliin95 karma

Currently I am a college student. I was actually working at Walmart in the TLE (automotive) department for a short time before this job, until I quit because it was so horrendous. I found the job on Facebook actually, browsing through a job listing group. So really, it was just by chance that I stumbled upon it. I would definitely recommend the job, as it is EXTREMELY easy, mostly driving from place to place and for a really good pay (although my company itself is starting to get kinda bad to it's employees). The job is very specific though, and there are very few people that I can see doing it, with most people in my company only lasting a month or so if that. You have to be able to be physically fit enough to move (mostly just pulling/sliding) bodies, clean cut, have good people skills, and able to handle constantly being around dead bodies. It can get really hard being around grieving families, but I love my job and I feel like I'm doing a real service to the world, knowing that I'm giving the deceased and their loved ones the best care possible.

Baelliin88 karma

Definitely, although it's really on a scale depending on cleaned up they are, and how long they have been deceased. In hospitals/hospices, the patient always is wearing an adult diaper, with a thick pad underneath, so the defecation from death usually is soaked up quite a bit and takes some time to start smelling. For residential calls however, it is completely dependent on whether the family/neighbor/whomever decides to clean them up out of respect. Sometimes the family will clean them up if they are naked, or if they're wearing pants its usually okay. If neither of those things are true, then its very messy and odorous. The second factor is how long they've been deceased. Someone that recently died within a few hours or so generally don't smell much, although they have a very distinctive "old person smell" I would call it, along with traces of defecation (depending on cleanliness). Although we do not get them often, we do sometimes get decompositions at homes where they had not been found for weeks. I've only had two of these, but they are an absolute nightmare, and there is no smell like it.