History Main / DistractedFromDeath

** Near the end, the tough [[SergeantRock Sergeant Horvath]] gets shot several times, but downplays the seriousness of it, commenting "[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all]]." A minute or two later when Captain Miller is stunned after a near miss from a tank shell, he gets knocked down close to Horvath was dragged to keep him out of the line of fire and realizes the sergeant is dead.

* Played with in ''TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''. [[AlmostDeadGuy Bill Carson]] dies of thirst and exposure in the minute or two it takes Tuco to run over to his horse and grab a canteen, but Blondie is there to hear his gasp out the name of the grave where the stolen gold is buried.

* Happens to Colonel Mitchell in StargateSG1. He spends most of the episode sitting with his friend who has an inoperable tumor and who would have been selected for the Stargate Program if not for a hotheaded mistake that Cam made. Near the end of the episode, Mitchell has to leave to help SG1 rescue Teal'c. By the time he gets back, his friend is gone.

* In ''The Kindly Ones'' (the 9th volume of ''TheSandman'') Rose Walker is taking care of and frequently visiting her friend Zelda, an AIDS patient very close to death. When Zelda passes along a message with apparently supernatural origins that Rose should go to England, Rose does, and comes back to find herself taking care of Zelda's funeral arrangements instead of hospital care.

* In ''[[Film/TheEdge The Edge]]'', Bob and Charles survive for a prolonged period in the wilderness after their plane crashes. Bob becomes seriously wounded while they attempt to survive and get rescued. One day while at their camp Charles sees a rescue plane and grabs a burning branch to signal it. He gets the plane to notice him, but when he turns around to tell Bob, he sees that Bob has finally died just a few feet away from him while his back was turned.

* ''[[Literature/TheDresdenFiles The Dresden Files]]'' example: This happens to Harry Dresden in ''Proven Guilty'': he's trying to save a girl from a phobophage, but gets carried away attacking it and, when he turns round to check on the girl, she's bled to death.
* There's a minor example in the book ''HeartShapedBox'' by Joe Hill. Both the main character Jude and his dog Angus are injured in a car crash. Jude goes in and out of consciousness for awhile, but he comes to, (albeit in shock) and sees that Angus is still definitely alive (albeit barely) in the backseat of the car, and Jude briefly speaks to Angus and tries to encourage him, which Angus can only respond to with a miserable whine. A few minutes later when they reach their destination, he goes to get Angus out, and then realizes that Angus is dead. He is completely unable to believe it for several seconds, because it seems like Angus was definitely alive a few minutes ago and there was no noise or other sign to mark his death.

* Mentioned in one of the ''TeenageWorrier'' books, when Letty brings up how to cope with the death of a friend, as seen by the page quote.

** "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly" — Ned and Maude Flanders go to a racetrack and Maude, naturally offended by Homer's inevitable antics, gets up to go get her family some hot dogs. They look away, and Maude dies in a freak accident moments later.

* In the first ''{{Highlander}}'' movie, Connor [=MacLeod's=] wife Heather is dying of old age, and Connor holds her in her last moments, [[LetThemDieHappy telling her a comforting story so she can die happy]]. When he's done he looks down to find her dead in his arms, likely having died at some point in the middle of his story.

Compare and contrast DroppedABridgeOnHim, BusCrash, NeverGotToSayGoodbye.

* In ''DoctorWho,'' this happens to ''the planet Earth,'' as the sun is in the process of expanding a few billion years from now. Bad Things happen on the station everyone is observing it from, and at the end Rose noted that not only is the world doomed over a long enough timeline no matter what, in the end no one will even be watching, busy trying to save themselves.

** During the D-Day invasion, Miller turns to a radio man, and has the radio man relay their status to command. He turns back to the battle, then after a few seconds he gives more information to the radio man. He goes to talk to the radio man again after a few seconds, and finds that the poor guy has been shot.

[[folder:Real LIfe]]

* At the end of the rebooted {{Series/Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}, Adama takes the dying Roslin for a cruise in his Raptor over the surface of their new planet, and she dies while he's looking away. Someone might want to check this against the box set to be sure.

* One Halloween episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer has been cursed until he apologizes. So terrible things are happening to his friends and family. At Moe's, Homer witnesses the deaths of Lenny and Carl as they're crushed by a helicopter. Turing back to the bar, he see's Moe floating dead in a pickle jar.

Compare and contrast DroppedABridgeOnHim, BusCrash.

* One ''Webcomic/{{Xkcd}}'' strip featured a character who was so worried about this happening that every time he leaves to run an errand he tries to say a rather out of place sweet something or "I love you" as a way of averting NeverGotToSayGoodbye.

* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Dresden Files]] example: this happens to Harry Dresden in ''Proven Guilty'': he's trying to save a girl from a phobophage, but gets carried away attacking it and, when he turns round to check on the girl, she's bled to death.

* In the story "A Fat Tip...for Murder!" in an issue of ''Crime Does Not Pay'', a hospital orderly has altered a heart cancer patient's will, and [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident triggers a fatal attack]] while the nurse is out phoning the patient's attorney since if the two were to speak, his fraud would be revealed. When the nurse returns, she finds the patient dead and seemingly assumes the normal version of the trope has happened.

* At the end of the rebooted BattlestarGalactica, Adama takes the dying Roslin for a cruise in his Raptor over the surface of their new planet, and she dies while he's looking away. Someone might want to check this against the box set to be sure.

* In ''Literature/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'', the main character is talking to a wounded [[spoiler: [[OldSoldier Kat]]]] as he carries him on his back. He's then spotted by an enemy gunner who opens fire on him and sprints to the safety of the hospital. The medic looks at him and coldly points out that he's already dead, leaving the protagonist sobbing about how he couldn't be as he was just talking to him...

* In ''AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'', the main character is talking to a wounded [[spoiler: [[OldSoldier Kat]]]] as he carries him on his back. He's then spotted by an enemy gunner who opens fire on him and sprints to the safety of the hospital. The medic looks at him and coldly points out that he's already dead, leaving the protagonist sobbing about how he couldn't be as he was just talking to him...

* Bill Carson dies of thirst and exposure in the minute or two it takes Tuco to run over to his horse and grab a canteen in ''TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''.

* Near the end of ''SavingPrivateRyan'', the tough [[SergeantRock Sergeant Horvath]] gets shot several times, but downplays the seriousness of it, commenting "[[MajorInjuryUnderreaction I just got the wind knocked out of me, that's all]]." A minute or two later when Captain Miller is stunned after a near miss from a tank shell, he gets knocked down close to Horvath was dragged to keep him out of the line of fire and realizes the sergeant is dead.
** Also, during the D-Day invasion, Miller turns to a radio man, and has the radio man relay their status to command. He turns back to the battle, then after a few seconds he gives more information to the radio man. He goes to talk to the radio man again after a few seconds, and finds that the poor guy has been shot.

* One Halloween episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer has been cursed that until he apologizes. So terrible things are happening to his friends and family. At Moe's, Homer witnesses the deaths of Lenny and Carl as they're crushed by a helicopter. Turing back to the bar, he see's Moe floating dead in a pickle jar.

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* In the ''{{Scryed}}'' anime, Kazuma beats another [[RealityWarper Alter User]] with help from his NonActionGuy[=/=]MissionControl friend Kimishima. Kimishima is injured in the fight, so Kazuma begins carrying him home, with the two even talking at times. When Kazuma makes it back home the WaifProphet Kanami starts to cry as soon as she sees Kimishima. Kazuma doesn't get it because he just thinks Kimishima fell asleep or passed out on the way home. Then he tries [[PleaseWakeUp to wake Kimishima up]]...