Hiccuping after death?

Question

I am having a somewhat heated debate with some friends about hiccuping. Say a person were to die while they had "the hiccups", would they continue after they died? If so, why? If not, why? Thank you.

Answer 1

Well, hiccoughing is caused by involuntary spasms of the diaphragm.  It is possible that these would continue for a small amount of time after someone died, but not for long, as rigor mortis would set in...

Answer 2

The diaphragm is a muscle. Like any other muscle it needs a supply of blood to bring it fuel and remove waste. After you die you have no blood flow, so the hiccups would stop because the diaphragm can't work without blood.

Answer 3

Some of the other Answerers probably have not witnessed many deaths before.  However, those of us in the business for a while know that sometimes residual muscle activities (twitches) can occasionally persist for minutes to hours after cessation of life signs.  This can be quite distressing to family members at the beside, as you can imagine.

Of course, I'm sure you've had hiccups yourself -- it's a forceful contraction of the entire diaphragm (a big sheet of muscle separating your chest from your abdomen).  For hiccups to be observable from outside the body takes quite a bit -- sufficient muscle strength and adequate nervous system control -- which are often not present by the time death sets in.  So most of the time (luckily for most families), we only see small twitches in the arms and legs, if anything.

Finally, it depends on how you define death.  Someone in the ICU can be brain-dead but still has all other organs fully functional for days....

Answer 4

Hiccuping following death should be the least of one's worries, considering the price of gasoline and decline in the economy.

Answer 5

no- you don't do ANYTHING after you die. Not even hiccup.  A Hiccup is caused by muscle movement- and believe me, no muscle moves when you are dead. Promise.