# Least Painful 'Natural' Way to Die. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2013, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722 "2013-04-03T12:06:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/61 "2014-11-21T22:37:48Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Any heart rhythm disturbance that suddenly causes your blood pressure to fall to zero (ventricular tachycardia without a pulse, ventricular fibrillation, asystole) would be pretty painless. Here one moment, gone the next. > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > And I’ve talked to folks who became ‘pulseless non-breathers’ via ventricular fibrillation, who were defibrillated successfully and returned to normal function. They described the process as not unlike someone turning off a switch; i.e. blankness. Followed by the pain of resuscitation, in their cases. That was my Mom’s story. The first time happened at the office. She was standing there talking to somebody and the next thing she knew a paramedic was kneeling over her with oxygen, defib machine, etc. The second time it happened she was alone. Presumably she didn’t feel anything that time either. That’s now my preferred exit strategy too. I hear a lot of people talking about someone who “died in their sleep”. About all we can really say after the fact is that they died in bed because that’s where we found the body. Were they asleep? Or did they waken and lie there in pain & fear for a few seconds or minutes wondering what the heck was going on? Hard to say, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/62 "2014-11-21T22:51:34Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > That’s why we don’t feel the need to breathe after we’ve inhaled water (or so they say, though I wonder how they know that.) There _have_ been medical experiments to study the effects of drowning; years ago I read an article written by a volunteer who participated in one. They strapped him into a harness attached to a pole and lowered him into the water. Both fresh and salt, since that was one of the things they were studying. I’ve long been amazed at the things scientists can get people to volunteer for. ---
**Author:** ![Strangeland64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@Strangeland64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strangeland64)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/63 "2014-11-21T23:19:15Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The end stage of end stage renal disease, sure. Problem is there tends to be years leading up to that that often involve neuropathy, nonhealing sores and just generally feeling like crap. Not necessarily pain, but no energy, no gumption, no actually enjoying life. That would be pretty emotionally painful for me, if not physically so. If he skipped those complications, he’s a lucky guy. Yes this … I have had the kidney disease part for 4 years and I can promis the last two have been pretty miserable. Now I’m at stage five and chose not to have dialysis. Hopefully one day I will get to that last 24 hours ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/64 "2014-11-21T23:25:32Z")
Falling off a high mountain would be over before you had much time to suffer. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/65 "2014-11-22T00:17:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I hear a lot of people talking about someone who “died in their sleep”. About all we can really say after the fact is that they died in bed because that’s where we found the body. > > Were they asleep? Or did they waken and lie there in pain & fear for a few seconds or minutes wondering what the heck was going on? Hard to say, I’d say. Lots of times, it’s witnessed. Many people (not enough, but many) die in their sleep while someone is sitting there holding their hand. Often on monitors that tell us their heart rate, blood pressure, brain waves…common signs that help us to notice when people are in pain when they can’t tell us. So yes, at least some people who die in their sleep seem to do so painlessly. > [@Strangeland64](#): > > Yes this … I have had the kidney disease part for 4 years and I can promis the last two have been pretty miserable. Now I’m at stage five and chose not to have dialysis. Hopefully one day I will get to that last 24 hours Oh, that sucks. I’m truly sorry to hear that. I’ve often looked at my patients who do dialysis and thought, “oh, hell no. I ain’t gonna do that if it’s me.” On the other hand, have you explored home dialysis options? It’s much much better, less life impairing and has better outcomes in terms of both subjective and objective measures like quality of life and duration of disability free years. Yet somehow doctors hardly ever bring it up as an option. If you’ve already explored it and refused it, I apologize for bringing it up. But on the chance that your nephrologist, like too many of them, told you it was outpatient or nothing, I’d encourage you to get a second opinion. I only have a couple of patients on home dialysis, but they all LOVE it compared to outpatient, and they’re much healthier, especially on Mondays (because they haven’t had to go two days without treatment.) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/66 "2014-11-22T00:53:44Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I’m not sure this counts as “natural” per the OP. a pure N2O environment is hard to come by in nature. > > You might find _other_ asphyxiant atmospheres in nature, e.g. a cave in a coal-rich region that’s filled with natural gas/methane, or a volcanic area that’s spewing some other sort of gas (see [Lake Nyos,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos#The_1986_disaster) although that was CO2 which is unpleasant to inhale). > > As long as it crushes the right part of you, i.e. the brain. What is wrong with you people? Pure nitrogen. Or helium, if you want to make it kind of funny. ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/67 "2014-11-22T00:57:35Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > There _have_ been medical experiments to study the effects of drowning; years ago I read an article written by a volunteer who participated in one. They strapped him into a harness attached to a pole and lowered him into the water. Both fresh and salt, since that was one of the things they were studying. > > I’ve long been amazed at the things scientists can get people to volunteer for. Any chance you remember where you read that? I’d like to read it. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/68 "2014-11-22T01:27:53Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Falling off a high mountain would be over before you had much time to suffer. And you get to enjoy the flight before impact. Bonus! ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/69 "2014-11-22T01:57:04Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Back before antibiotics they used to refer to pneumonia as the old man’s friend. You’d slip into a hypoxic coma, and shuffle off the mortal coil. A friend of mine was an emergency room doctor and he said this was a good way. You generally just go to sleep and then die. In fact he called it the old man’s friend. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/70 "2014-11-22T03:13:13Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > A friend of mine was an emergency room doctor and he said this was a good way. You generally just go to sleep and then die. In fact he called it the old man’s friend. I wish this had been true for my grandfather. He had pneumonia and spent his last 4 weeks gasping for breath. Gasping loudly as if he was struggling for his life (which he was, and failing). Had things been up to me I’d have treated it with a snug pillow. But it wasn’t, and we watched him in apparent agony for 4 weeks before he died. There’s nobody more selfish than we, the living. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/71 "2014-11-22T03:37:51Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > What about being crushed by a large falling object (like a massive boulder - 5 tons or so)? > > If you go from person to puddle in less than a second, would you even have a chance to feel much? I get the impression that according to the OP, this wouldn’t be a natural death, this would be outside-intervention-by-external-object death. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/72 "2014-11-22T03:42:06Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I’ve always thought that freezing to death is a comfortable way to go. You just go to sleep… In its last stages, maybe. But the first stages must feel wretched. Imagine, for instance, wearing a T-shirt and shorts in below-freezing temperatures with howling winds. That sensation. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/73 "2014-11-22T03:43:40Z")
A year or so ago, I was reading a similar thread in another forum. A young woman posted to say that she had drowned once, and lost consciousness, and was rescued and resuscitated. She said “It wasn’t so bad”, but did not elaborate. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/74 "2014-11-22T04:34:29Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I get the impression that according to the OP, this wouldn’t be a natural death, this would be outside-intervention-by-external-object death. Boulders fall from high places all the time due to purely natural causes; I can’t see how being killed by such a boulder is unnatural. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/75 "2014-11-22T04:43:52Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > There _have_ been medical experiments to study the effects of drowning; years ago I read an article written by a volunteer who participated in one. They strapped him into a harness attached to a pole and lowered him into the water. Both fresh and salt, since that was one of the things they were studying. > > I’ve long been amazed at the things scientists can get people to volunteer for. Yes, although in many cass the “volunteer” bit was iffy, like German experiments or military accidents which the victim survived. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/76 "2014-11-22T04:47:18Z")
Myocardial infarcation of the LAD coronary artery. Preferably during sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/77 "2014-11-22T10:28:38Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Boulders fall from high places all the time due to purely natural causes; I can’t see how being killed by such a boulder is unnatural. Well, it doesn’t seem quite in the same category as heart attacks or pneumonia. I know, I nitpick . ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/78 "2014-11-22T14:02:19Z")
There would be at least two separate concerns involved for reducing the displeasure of dying. One would be the physical pain, which is an evolved response telling you that your body is malfunctining and you had better pay attention in order to survive. The other, since we are intelligent rational beings, is the conscious awareness that we are going to die, with all the anxiety that that entails. Much of that rests with the terrible expectation that something really unpleasant is going to happen before things get better. There is an old seafaring adage, that sailors and fishermen never learn to swim – it takes too long to die. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/79 "2014-11-22T14:14:59Z")
Seems like there are two kinds of deaths: The painful but extremely quick deaths, and the slower but much less painful deaths. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722/80 "2014-11-22T14:31:13Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Seems like there are two kinds of deaths: The painful but extremely quick deaths, and the slower but much less painful deaths. I’ve heard the quick deaths are easier on the dying and harder on family/friends, while the slow deaths are harder for the dying but easier on family/friends. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-painful-natural-way-to-die/654722.md?page=5)