An American journalist by the name of Scott Simon sat by his dying mother’s bedside as she slowly passed away tweeting a blow-by-blow description of the experience.

Including:

‘I just realized: she once had to let me go into the big wide world. Now I have to let her go the same way.’

‘Breathing hard now. She sleeps, opens eyes a minute, sleeps. I sing, “I’ll always be there, as frightened as you,” to her.

‘Mother cries Help Me at 2:30. Been holding her like a baby since. She’s asleep now. All I can do is hold onto her.’

‘Heart rate dropping, Heart dropping.’

‘The heavens over Chicago have opened and Patricia Lyons Simon Newman has stepped onstage.’

The tweets have caused quite a stir. Some have applauded the journalist for bringing death into the public conversation while others have been appalled that he didn’t give his mother 100% of his attention at the end. But death has a funny effect on peeps. You never know how you’re going to react until you’re there. For some tweeting could bring comfort. It’s certainly a great way to let friends share in what you’re going through without having to repeat a painful conversation in person many times over. As someone who hasn’t experienced death much (thankfully) I found his comments interesting. What about you?

Would you tweet at a loved one’s death bed?