21 Shocking Confessions People Made To Their Doctors And Nurses On Their Deathbed Or During Health Scares

When people are dying — or even just confronted with a health emergency — they're often looking to get things off their chest. Sometimes, this is just a regret they've always had; other times, it's a harrowing confession. Doctors and nurses are often privy to these sorts of confessions, and over on Quora, they share the wild and horrifying confessions patients have made, often on their deathbeds. Here are some that stuck out to me.

NOTE: There are mentions of murder, sexual abuse, and animal cruelty/death ahead.

1."Fred was a widower in his late seventies when he became my patient. He was always charming and thoughtful with my staff. I noted signs of liver disease on routine blood tests, so I started suggesting he cut down on his alcohol intake. After a few such conversations, he confided in me: 'Doc, I hear what you're saying about my drinking, but it's something I've done my entire adult life and have no desire to stop now. I was a drinker back when I was in my twenties, and Prohibition was the law. My first paying job was running moonshine in the back of my truck on the backroads of Georgia in the wee hours of the night. Liquor almost killed me then.'"

"'I was pulled over by a cop on one of my midnight runs, and he demanded that I open up the back of the truck to show him what I was carrying. I knew I was in big trouble if he found the booze and also in big trouble if I didn't deliver it. I made like I was reaching for the key for the padlock and shot him with my handgun. He died instantly. I hid the body and high-tailed it out of there. They never figured out who killed him. It's been over 50 years since it happened, and you're the first person I have ever told. I guess I just wanted to get it off my chest.'

I was speechless. I don't remember what I said to him, but I recall thinking later that he trusted me enough to finally tell someone he was a murderer."

—John W., Quora

2."I was a nurse's aide at a hospital. I remember sitting with this one older woman who had dementia; she was in there for a UTI. She kept telling me that she burned a couple of her children alive because her husband had been cheating on her. Only one kid made it out alive. At first, I didn't believe her because I knew dementia screws with one's mind, but after talking with one of the nurses, I found out that there was a fire that killed a few of her children, and the only child did live, and that was her son."

"I also found out that her son moved all the way to the other side of the country just to get away from her and that he had her put away. He never visited her and wanted nothing to do with her."

—Destiny P., Quora

3."One guy was in after a heart attack. He thought for sure he was going to die in the next few days. He wanted one of our security officers to come talk to him. When the officer arrived, the patient wanted me to stay in the room as a witness. Seems about ten years back (about 25 now), he had killed a guy and buried him. Our officer had the police come to see the patient, who then repeated what he'd told us before. He told them how he killed him and where he was buried. That patient survived to stand trial."

"A second patient was a woman who had been in a bad car accident and was dying. She confessed to her husband while I was in the room that she had been having an affair with two other guys — one was his brother."

—Mike H., Quora

4."A few years ago, I had a patient with end-stage cancer. He was very sick and at the end of his life. He never had any visitors; he was a very sad, lonely older man. I asked him if he had any family, and he admitted he did, but they would have nothing to do with him. When he was a young man, he did a lot of terrible things, and his children suffered. I was consoling him and told him maybe they would forgive him now and suggested we call his son. He said, 'NO. He can't forgive me. I murdered far too many people.'"

"'I went to jail for raping a young woman. No, it's best we leave them alone.' So we did, and he died alone."

—Dyou're, Quora

5."I was once told by a sex worker that she had HIV and didn't tell any of her clients. She needed the money to support herself, and she could not imagine any other way to live besides exchanging sex for money. She told me that she 'almost always' made her clients use condoms. But, sometimes, she admitted that if it was someone that treated her badly, she might agree to unprotected sex."

—Robert F., Quora

6."I was a resident in psychiatry, and I was doing a rotation on a 'detox' unit in a general community hospital. All the patients were sad, but one man struck me as different. He was in his mid-fifties and had a kind face, polite manner, and sweet disposition. I liked him a lot, and we hit it off. I spent a lot of time talking to him about his life and life in general. My month-long rotation was ending, and one question remained: What was this kind man's secret? What was 'the core' of this man's alcohol dependence? So, I asked him."

"He hesitated, looked out the window, and began to speak: 'When I was younger, I had a terrible temper. I mostly kept it under control, but it would come out once in a while. I met a woman, and she was beautiful in every way, inside and out. We got married, and I found a great job. We bought a nice house, and life seemed too good to be true.

My wife had a baby, and he was a healthy boy. He was mature for his age, and we lived out in the country. We let him play outside by himself once he turned four years old, and he was fine. He never left the yard, and we never worried.

One day, my wife and I argued about something, and I lost it. To cool off, I jumped in the car, put the transmission in reverse, and stomped on the pedal.

I hit something in the driveway — hard.

I stopped, sick to my stomach, and went to look.

My son was dead in the driveway.

Doctor, I went down to the bar after the funeral — it's got to be thirty years. I got terribly drunk that day and have been drunk since. I'm detoxing because I'm sick, but I know as soon as I get discharged, I'm going directly to the bar and get drunk again.'

I had no words, of course. I left at the end of the day and when I got home, I hugged and kissed my children with more intensity than they could understand."

—Michael A., Quora

7."I was working in a nursing home some years ago, and we had the nicest gentleman there. After getting pneumonia and being told he had only days to live, he asked me if he could tell me something that he had never told anyone. Of course, I agreed. He proceeded to tell me that his grandfather sexually abused his little sister, and his grandmother knew about it and protected his grandfather, so he put poison in their food one night when they stayed over. The next morning, they both were dead. "

"No autopsy was performed, and everyone assumed they had passed from old age. He smiled at me and said, 'It was my job to protect her.' I simply smiled and told him he was now my favorite person; moments later, he passed on. I will never forget him."

—Lynda P., Quora

8."During my pediatrics rotation, I was taking a history from a parent regarding their son's medical condition. The child had jaundice, which could not be explained, so I suspected a genetic condition and inquired further. From the history, I learned that the child had a younger brother, alive and well, but he also had two elder sisters who died even before reaching the age of one. I started inquiring about the cause of death of the two sisters, but the father was reluctant to answer. So I tried to push him to answer by telling him that his son could die if he did not tell me the circumstances of his daughters deaths. Suddenly, his eyes started welling with tears, and he told me his daughters did not die from medical causes but were killed. He told me that his mother and father had killed his daughters by smothering them in their sleep."

"Female infanticide is common where I come from, but it was the first time someone had admitted it to me. I was taken aback and couldn't comprehend how a father could stand by when his offspring were killed, but sadly, this is the reality of our society."

—Anonymous, Quora

9."Long ago, when I worked in home health, I had a gentleman in his late nineties. He was dying from lung cancer. On what turned out to be my last visit, he asked to sit and talk for a few minutes. He said, 'When I was 12, I lived with my family in Mississippi. One night, my father told me a young Black man had grabbed my older sister in a bad way. He took me to a very rural area, had me get out of the truck, and showed me the dead body. He then handed me a shovel and made me help him dig a big hole for the body. He never told me how he had killed him or anything and swore me to secrecy. I have asked God for forgiveness, but I guess I'm going to hell."

"I was pretty stunned and didn't actually know what to say, so I said I would say a prayer for him and the young victim. I called a friend who was a policeman and asked him who I should report this; he said he would check and call me back. I was notified the next morning that the patient had died, and when I talked to my friend again, he said just drop it. It happened over 80 years ago, and he is dead. Still, I think about this every so often."

—Anonymous

10."As a nurse, I've been with many right as they pass. The confession came from a 102-year-old lady. She was so nice and polite and would never ask for a thing. She outlived her children and husband; the rest of the family lived across the country. I sat with her for a few minutes after giving her pain medication. She stated, 'I love the Lord, but I'm not going to see him.' I told her that she had a spot in heaven waiting for her. She still said, 'No.'"

"Turns out that she got pregnant at 17, while unmarried, with a boy she didn't even know well. Which would have been a big deal back then. She hid her pregnancy and gave birth in the family barn. Scared and knowing that if her family found out about any of this, she would be kicked out and labeled, she wrapped up the baby and placed it in a pond on the family farm.

I thought my heart stopped when she told me her story. Soon, she fell asleep and passed about an hour later."

—Brittany P., Quora

11."In my time as a registered nurse, I've heard many deathbed confessions. One patient springs to mind: an older man who was dying and in a lot of pain. Before he died, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and confessed to me that he had raped his five-year-old daughter until she eventually killed herself. He wanted forgiveness and asked if I forgave him."

"I won't lie to you. I wanted to let go of his hand. I wanted to leave his side, and I lost all care and sorrow for him. I let go of his hand and looked at him. He looked back at me, and then he was gone. I'd only been a nurse for about six months at that time, and despite what he'd done, I felt guilty that he confessed and I didn't forgive him. He probably didn't deserve forgiveness, but I wasn't professional for him, and I should have been."

—Angelica B., Quora

12."'I've been killing dogs for a while now.'"

"The guy sitting on the bed came into the ER because he wanted someone to tell him 'if I'm thinking right.' He told me that he had been having strange thoughts recently. He said he didn't have any friends, but he had befriended a stray dog. But, 'something bad happened to the dog last night. It died.' He seemed to have zero emotion about this as he said it. 'How did the dog die?' I asked. With the same expressionless tone, he replied, 'I killed it. I've been killing dogs for a while.'

I asked more questions to unpack this, and he told me about how he had killed an estimated 75 dogs and at least that many cats. He did it because he was curious about what was inside them. He killed them in a variety of ways and told me he always felt a great 'release' immediately after doing so. 'Like sex,' he said. He would dispose of their bodies in a variety of places, but usually someplace he could come back and see what happened to them over time. He was extremely curious about that.

Of course, I recognized him as a sociopath. I asked him if he had ever hurt a person, and he immediately said no. Then he hesitated. 'I've been thinking about it a lot, though.' He had no particular person in mind but just the idea made him excited. I realized I was talking with what could easily become a serial killer. I told him that I felt his thinking was unusual and that I would like to consult a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist came and interviewed him for about 90 minutes. She came out of the room and confirmed to me that the patient was a sociopath and potentially dangerous at some point in the future. But because he wasn't immediately suicidal or homicidal, she felt he was safe for discharge and outpatient follow-up.

He stopped me in the hall on the way out and shook my hand. He said, 'I really liked talking to you.' He then told me that he wished we could talk more often. I thanked him for coming in and watched him walk out the door. As he was leaving, I told him to make sure to follow up. He turned and looked at me, then turned back around without saying a word and walked out."

—Robert F., Quora

13."A patient (in his late 50s) made a confession to me that I was to tell his wife. Seems she was not the only mother to his children. He told me where he kept the paperwork spelling out his numerous transgressions. Ironically, his wife was in the room. Not sure if he knew, forgot, or just did not know she was there."

"Another patient confessed to her daughter (but wanted me in the room) that her late husband 'Bill' was not her real father. And 'Bill' had not known either."

—Mike H., Quora

14."I have been told by patients that they intend to leave the emergency department and kill someone. One of these patients confessed to me that they had been forced to have sex with a family member and that they were going to kill them the next time it happened. I was also told by another patient who admitted she had been raped that she was going to kill her rapist."

—Robert F., Quora

15."I was a medic in Vietnam, and a badly wounded guy was brought into the ER via medevac. He knew that he was going to die and asked if he was going to hell for killing people that were civilians. He started to give me details, but the morphine put him out. He died peacefully, maybe five minutes later."

—Lee W., Quora

16."One patient was an older man, a white immigrant to the UK, who had difficult psychiatry. It emerged he had been a torturer, I think likely an executioner, in a civil war many years ago."

—Giles E., Quora

17."'I have a gun. It is loaded, I know how to use it, and I am going home to kill my husband.'"

"'Why are you telling me this?'

'Please. I need you to stop me.'"

—Mark J., Quora

18."I had a patient who was a 96-year-old woman. She had one son who always looked after her. One day, she confessed that her son was not really her son but actually her nephew. She couldn't have kids, and her sister gave him away to her. She said he doesn’t know and should never know."

—Ila N., Quora

19."Several years ago, one lady in her early sixties wanted to confide in me. She made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone in her family (several others in her extended family were also my patients). I promised. She had been having an affair with a prominent local physician for ALMOST 30 YEARS, and I guess the guilt was accumulating. I was a bit surprised, too. I shared quite a few patients with him, and he, as a married doctor, had an excellent reputation and appeared to be above reproach."

"She wanted to quit but didn't know how. I asked if he had ever threatened her, bribed her, given her drugs — nope, nothing.

I explained to her that whatever the connection was, it was beyond my expertise to help her. I did suggest counseling or that she relocate — she actually took this last advice and moved to live with her sister in Texas.

I received several postcards from her over the ensuing months that obliquely informed me 'that she was improving.'

That doctor passed away not long ago. After his funeral, it came out that he had two other ladies that he also had been in long-term 'relationships' with.

So, with his wife and three affair partners, he was a very busy doctor, indeed."

—Garry K., Quora

20."I have been told by a number of patients with terminal diseases that they intended to kill themselves. They felt powerless and that the end was certain. What control they had left, they wanted to use to dictate the time and manner of death. Some of them asked me for my help. Others wanted my understanding or blessing."

—Robert F., Quora

21.Finally, let's end on a story that has a somewhat happy ending. "I've had a few deathbed confessions. No major crimes or anything, just people expressing regret for what was left undone or things they felt they did wrong. One patient told me that she had been a terrible mother and that she knew her kids would never forgive her. She just wanted them to be okay. I wanted to help ease her mind and asked if she knew where they were or had their phone numbers or addresses. She did but didn't want to call them because she knew they would think she was being manipulative."

"I suggested she call them anyway, just to say she was sorry and wished she had done more for them. I pointed out that they would still grieve on some level when she died, but having the courage to offer her sincere apologies for what she did wrong and her best wishes for their future may help them cope.

Every last one of her kids came to visit and talk, and we even arranged for our chaplain to mediate a family discussion. She took full responsibility for her past actions and ended up helping them heal a lot of old wounds. She had a very good death, and her adult children were all there for it."

—Anonymous, Quora

Do you work with patients of any kind, and have they ever admitted anything wild to you? Let us know in the comments or via this anonymous form.

Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.