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US
Cat 'Predicts Patient Deaths' BBC
News July
26, 2007
Oscar has a habit of curling up next to patients at the home in Providence, Rhode Island, in their final hours. According to the author of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the two-year-old cat has been observed to be correct in 25 cases so far. Staff now alert the families of residents when he sits down next to their ailing loved one. "He
doesn't make many mistakes. He seems to understand when patients are about
to die," David Dosa, a professor at Brown
'Premonitions' Oscar was adopted as a kitten at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre. The cat is said to do his own rounds, just like the doctors and nurses at the home, but is not generally friendly to patients. Although most families are grateful for the warning Oscar seems to provide, some relatives ask that the pet be taken away while they say their last goodbyes to their loved ones. When put outside the room, Oscar is said to pace up and down meowing in protest. Thomas
Graves, a feline expert from the University
of "They can sense when the weather will change, they're famous for being sensitive to premonitions of earthquakes." A doctor who treats patients at the home said she believed there was probably a biochemical explanation, rather than the cat being psychic. More Information on US Health Issues
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