Hello there and thanks for posting

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your father and appreciate this must be such a difficult time for you and it is understandable to have questions.

It seems your dad appeared quite stable and well when you last visited him in hospital and I am sure if the staff involved in his care were concerned about his ill health they would have let you know sooner. Usually when someone dies from cancer there is a gradual decline where they become less well, more sleepy, lose their appetite and all the body systems start to slow down. When this happens patients are put on a special palliative care pathway to ensure they are kept comfortable in the last weeks and days of their life. When a patient becomes closer to passing away often the nurses and doctors will know the signs that someone is nearing the end, and family are informed so they can be there, if they aren't already.

Sadly some people can die more suddenly and unexpectedly out of the blue and this is often due to some fatal medical emergency such as a heart attack or a pulmonary embolism (where a blot clot that travels to the lungs) and things like these can never be predicted unfortunately. Events like this can happen so quickly and are unfortunately irreversible.

I don't know if you have been in contact with the hospital since but they may be able to arrange a time for you to speak to a doctor and go through the notes about what happened and ask some questions to help give you more understanding. There is a leaflet that you may already received about your fathers passing but do take another look here as this may help.

I hope you have other family and friends around to support you at this time and do remember you can ask for bereavement counselling if this would be helpful to you.

Best wishes

Naomi