This is posted in the waiting room of an Irish hospital. Interesting glimpse into their culture.
The full text of the poster
This symbol has been developed by the Hospice Friendly Hospitals Programme to respectfully identify the End of Life.
This symbol is inspired by ancient Irish history; it is not associated with any one religion or denomination.
The white spiral represents the interconnected cycle of life, birth, life and death.
The white outer circle represents continuity, infinity and completion.
Purple has been chosen as the background colour as it is associated with nobility, solemnity and spirituality.
In this hospital the symbol may be displayed on a ward to add respect and solemnity during end of life or following the death of one of our patients.
Why do they need a symbol for that? Can't they just don't put any symbol? What does a symbol add?
How would you mark the room where someone just died. Maybe their family is there grieving.
"Please don't disturb" is slightly silly to put on a door handle
Maybe our customs are different. Usually this situation is very short and by the time you hangbthe sign, the person would already be transferred to the morgue. I lived in a similar situation where we had a family member die by night and by the time we reached in the early morning we went directly to a specific cleansing area. So it is very obvious what is going there.
We are Muslims and time from death to burial usually takes less than 24 hours.
Have you heard of an Irish wake? Traditionally they would throw a big party celebrating the life of a lost loved one and everyone would hang out with the body for 1-2 days
Then why do they put those door handle holes in the signs?
I've never seen one. Basing my question on the laminated display. Ifvtheybhave a big deck of door handle signs, then of course it is very quick.
At the vet I've seen a candle that they light when someone brings in their pet to be put down. It lets other patients know the terrible suffering the family is going through and allows them to be respectful to that. I'm guessing this symbol serves a similar purpose.