Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Oscar's intuition


Article in the NY Times today: "The Instincts to Trust Are Usually the Patient’s", which was about how many patients have an uncanny ability to know when they are about to die, even when they appear to be doing well. The article also cited a story in the New England Journal of Medicine about Oscar the cat who lived in a hospice wing of a hospital. He also knew when someone was about to die, and a few hours beforehand, would curl up and purr on the bed of the one about to move on. The staff recognized his abilities and would use his vigil as a signal to call the family of the patient to gather for their good-byes. He actually has a placque on the wall "For his compassionate hospice care.."

Just another one of those Unexplained Phenomenon I find so fascinating. (I think we should get a cat...)

1 comment:

Jason Siemers said...

What are you trying to tell us, mom...is "I think we should get a cat" code for "The end is near?" Your old, but not THAT old! Also, Bran has been talking about her fuzzie ideals for years but since when did she finally jump in? I am a big promoter of not continually buying diapers, especially when they are always SOLD OUT of the size I need and Chase goes through three diapers at every changing. -Rachel