Medically explained

“Passed away peacefully”: this is how you really die

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"Passed away peacefully" - a phrase that both means something to us all and nothing at the same time. It is an expression that someone was allowed to go quietly and in harmony with everything. What this means in medical terms, however, is rarely clear to the layman. We have asked.

It is comforting when a loved one has "passed away peacefully": the phrase is primarily intended to show that someone was allowed to go without pain. "A peaceful passing away also means that the approaching death takes place in a harmonious overall situation," explains brain researcher Prof. Dr. Jürgen Sandkühler from the Medical University of Vienna.