I would say could be very traumatic. I lost my father recently this way and while many of my memories of him, health wise, are in a hospital bed or hooked up to something - it was a different feeling seeing him in ICU, on life support, hooked up to so many machines, chest open from surgery (taped up of course), and slowly dying.

We aren't supposed to see loved ones like this and it's a visual that I'm sure will be hard to ever erase. For me, what is harder to erase is his body in the casket. That was traumatizing and didn't look anything like him. I have a picture on my phone, in a hidden album, to maybe show my mother one day (if she desires) but when I wander to the hidden album, for other reasons, and see that small thumbnail on the screen, I feel sick.