The last offices, or laying out, is the procedures performed, usually by a
nurse, to the body of a dead person shortly after
death has been confirmed.[1] They can vary between
hospitals and between
cultures.
Name
The word "offices" is related to the original
Latin, in which officium means "service, duty, business".[2] Hence these are the "last duties" carried out on the body.
Aims
To prepare the deceased for the mortuary (a funeral home or morgue), respecting their cultural beliefs
To comply with legislation, in particular where the death of a patient requires the involvement of a Procurator Fiscal aka. Coroner
To minimise any risk of cross-infection to relative, health care worker or persons who may need to handle the deceased
Often the body of the deceased is left for up to an
hour as a mark of respect. The procedure then typically includes the following steps, though they can vary according to an institution's preferred practices:
Removal of
jewellery unless requested otherwise by the deceased's family. If left on it must be documented in the patient's property list.
Wounds, including
pressure sores, should be covered with a waterproof
dressing. Tube insertion points should be padded with gauze and tape to avoid purging.
The patient is laid on their back with arms by their side (unless religious customs demand otherwise).
Eyelids are closed.
The
jaw is often supported with a pillow or cervical collar.
Dentures should be left in place, unless inappropriate.
The
bladder is drained by applying pressure on the lower
abdomen. Orifices are blocked only if leakage of body fluid is evident.
The body is then washed and dried, the mouth cleaned and the face shaved.
An identification bracelet is put on the
ankle detailing: the name of the patient; date of birth; date and time of death; name of ward (if patient died in hospital); patient identification number.
The body is dressed in a simple garment or wrapped in a shroud. An identification label duplicating the above information is pinned to the wrap or shroud.
A stretcher drawsheet is placed under the body to enable removal to a trolley for transportation to the morgue. These trolleys may often be disguised to resemble laundry carts if transportation has to pass through areas where members of the public may be present.
Bathing the dead
Washing the body of a dead person, sometimes as part of a
religiousritual, is a customary
funerary practice in several cultures. It was delegated to professionals in ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, and by well-off
Victorians, and is now in Western societies, but was traditionally performed by "family, friends, and neighbors."[4]
During the
Inquisition in Spain, bodies undergoing preparation for burial were sometimes scrutinized for signs that they had been washed, since this was seen as a marker of secret Jewish practice (
crypto-Judaism).[6]
Buddhism and Hinduism
Bathing of the dead, known as yukan, is also found in
Buddhism.[7] It is also found in
Hinduism.[8]
Islam
It is a religious practice in
Islam, where the body is washed by members of the dead person's family.[9] When possible, three washings are performed: first with water infused with
plum leaves, then with water infused with
camphor, and lastly with purified water.[10]
The washing is usually performed by others of the same gender, although Islamic
Hausa people permit spouses to wash each other's bodies.[11]
Africa
Funerary bathing is performed in traditional funerals in some countries in
West Africa. The ritual washing of the dead is believed to be one of the factors which resulted in the rapid spread of
Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014.[12]
In
Algerian religious tradition, a Ĝassâla, or Washer of the Dead is a woman who assists with death purification rites.[13]
Cultural references
Antigone speaks of washing the dead in accordance with the Greek custom, although she was limited to pouring water on the body of her brother
Polyneikes.[14]
The custom of bathing the dead has been depicted in a number of films. In the 1995 film Braveheart, a young
William Wallace watches as women bathe the bodies of his father and brother, who were killed in battle against English troops during the 13th century. The 2009 film The White Ribbon depicts the washing of a deceased housewife in a Northern German village just before
World War I. In the film A Midnight Clear (1992), set in the
Battle of the Ardennes in
World War II, a small group of soldiers are able to take a brief respite from the war when they procure a bath tub and heat up some water. After all have bathed, they wash the body of a comrade who was recently killed while trying to help a unit of German soldiers.
An episode of the
HBO series Six Feet Under shows
Nate Fisher's body being "slowly and methodically" washed by his mother and brother.[15]