My first night on call as an intern. Third day on the job as a new doc. Was given checkout on a patient that was on inpatient hospice and may pass that night. We would have to go and pronounce anybody that died. So I get called from the nurse that this patient had died as expected, and I go to the room to pronounce him. You’re taught before starting internship to check for pulse, listen for respiration’s, listen for heart sounds, and note the time of death.
I walk in the room and a bunch of family is there, very sad/quiet with occasional sniffles. So I introduce myself and say I’m sorry and do the whole song and dance to make sure he’s dead. And all I really know at that point is from the movies and TV where the doc announces the time of death. So I announce “Time of death: 11:42”. And the family loses their shit and starts screaming and wailing. And I just kind of slink out of the room. My resident laughed his ass off at me for not just documenting the time of death in the chart.