This is a descriptive study based upon an experience related by a group of nursing students in their senior year at a public university in the city of Rio de Janeiro. As part of a course content in Methodological Perspectives in Nursing II, based on problem solving, the authors analysed a death scene which occurred during practical training, in a large public general hospital, in order to describe how nursing staff deal with such an event. The main goal of the study was to provide thought provoking material from different points of view--cultural, religious and ethical--concerning the subject of death and the professional nursing ethics code. The authors concluded that the such a theme must be discussed in the academic environment, but not only from a technical point of view, for the process of human interaction which is established during health assistance demands the provision of nursing care to the patient during his entire lifespan, of which death is the last stage.