Originally Posted by
HogTrash
Associated Press
Book profiles furry angel of death: Oscar the cat
By RAY HENRY , 01.31.10, 02:12 PM EST
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The scientist in Dr. David Dosa was skeptical when first told that Oscar, an aloof cat kept by a nursing home, regularly predicted patients' deaths by snuggling alongside them in their final hours.
Dosa's doubts eroded after he and his colleagues tallied about 50 correct calls made by Oscar over five years, a process he explains in a book released this week, "Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat." (Hyperion, $23.99) The feline's bizarre talent astounds Dosa, but he finds Oscar's real worth in his fierce insistence on being present when others turn away from life's most uncomfortable topic: death.
"People actually were taking great comfort in this idea, that this animal was there and might be there when their loved ones eventually pass," Dosa said. "He was there when they couldn't be."
Dosa, 37, a geriatrician and professor at Brown University, works on the third floor of the Steere House, which treats patients with severe dementia. It's usually the last stop for people so ill they cannot speak, recognize their spouses and spend their days lost in fragments of memory.
He once feared that families would be horrified by the furry grim reaper, especially after Dosa made Oscar famous in a 2007 essay in the New England Journal of Medicine. Instead, he says many caregivers consider Oscar a comforting presence, and some have praised him in newspaper death notices and eulogies.
"Maybe they're seeing what they want to see," he said, "but what they're seeing is a comfort to them in a real difficult time in their lives."
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/...r_7317631.html
Its still an old story that they just rehashed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cat predicts deaths in nursing home
Updated 7/27/2007 8:54
PROVIDENCE — Dogs can sometimes predict an epileptic owner's seizure or sniff at an owner's mole, signaling a possible cancer.
VIDEO: Oscar the grim reap-purr?
Now, it appears a cat can predict the deaths of patients in a nursing home.
When Oscar curls up on a patient's bed and stays there, the staff knows it's time to call the family. It usually means the patient has less than four hours to live.
The feline's accuracy has been observed in 25 cases at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
"He doesn't make too many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about to die," Dr. David Dosa said in an interview. He describes the phenomenon in a poignant essay in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine
Last edited by Nukeman; 01-31-2010 at 08:57 PM.
Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." -Dr. Randy Pausch
Death is lighter than a feather, Duty is heavier than a mountain