Post Mortem Contact by Fatal Injury Victims with Emergency Service Workers at the Scenes of Their Death

Abstract

Ninety selected emergency service workers (68 police officers and 22 firefighter/emergency medical service personnel) were interviewed or completed questionnaires to determine if they had experienced a sense or feeling of “communication, presence, or attachment” from victims of fatal injury whom they had attended at death. Remarkably similar or related experiences were reported by 28 percent of the subjects. Reports ranged from simple affirmative responses to detailed descriptions. Partners corroborated two events, and several accounts described the location of the victim as above, over their shoulder, or looking down upon them, similar to accounts reported by survivors of near-death experiences. None of the subjects reported or displayed any symptoms of mental illness beyond usual posttraumatic event reactions, and all were experienced in their respective professions. I discuss the nature of these contacts and why similar reports of contact by deceased victims with attendees at their death have not appeared elsewhere; and I suggest studies with a more refined question protocol with other populations, such as hospital emergency room personnel, hospice care staff, chaplains, other clergy, and funeral home workers.