Dying Calls for Mother: Factual or Fanciful?

Abstract

There are anecdotal family reports of dying members vocalizing “mother” and cognate words. Do these dying words reflect fanciful accounts at the highly charged time of death, or are there such dying words from reliable witnesses? A search of the professional care literature found minimal relevant information, but nonfiction and fiction sources of combat deaths provided examples of dying warriors calling “mother.” I interviewed hospice workers and found that in 10% to 25% of elderly deaths, the dying persons vocalized “mother” and similar parental terms. Such dying utterances may offer succor to the dying person.