32 Years Later, ‘General Hospital’ Fans Still See This Character’s Death as the Most Heartbreaking Ever

Tragic death scenes are de rigueur on soap operas, but when that death happens to a child, it’s especially heartbreaking. In 1994, General Hospital presented one of the most heartbreaking death scenes that daytime television audiences had ever seen. A freak school bus accident claimed the life of one little girl, while another little girl lay dying in another hospital room.

Tony Jones Lets His Daughter Go

What seemed like an ordinary morning at work at GH turned into anything but when Dr. Tony Jones (Brad Maule) learned that his daughter, BJ, was involved in a horrible bus accident and had suffered a head injury. Tony rushed to her side, but quickly knew there was no hope. Being a neurologist, he checked BJ’s pupils and realized that his little girl was brain dead and nothing could be done to save her.

Tony knew that BJ’s heart was a match for her cousin Maxie, who had spent weeks in the hospital with Kawasaki Syndrome awaiting a transplant. After convincing Bobbie (Jacklyn Zeman) that their daughter really was gone, Tony had BJ removed from life support and her heart was given to Maxie. In what may have been one of the most emotional scenes in soap history, Tony later sat by his niece’s side and listened to his daughter’s heart beat in her chest.

Two decades later, both Tony and Bobbie had passed, but a mysterious guest at Bobbie’s funeral brought things full circle. A young woman claiming to be a reporter wanted to talk about the work Bobbie had been doing with victims of sex trafficking. By the end of the episode, Maxie (Kirsten Storms) and Felicia (Kristina Wagner) both realized that Brighton was really BJ’s spirit, back to say goodbye to her mother. Fittingly, GH brought back Brighton Hertford to play BJ as a grown-up, as she was the actress who played BJ as a child.

GH fans still get a lump in their throats when they think about this story and talk about it to this day.

“One of the absolute best story lines this show ever had!” one Reddit user said. “The emotions from Tony and Bobbie were authentic. And I can still hear Felicia screaming ‘No! Not Barbara Jean! Gives me chills!”

“When he goes in and listens to Maxie’s heart. So heartbreaking. And when he tells Frisco. And when Felicia finds out. The acting was soooo good,” another fan wrote.

Some fans even think this was the most gut-wrenching soaps have ever presented, with one writing, “In May 1994 the death of BJ and then BJs heart going into Maxies imo is the saddest storyline ever told. The scenes of Jackie Zeman as Bobbie crying that she’s a mother tore my heart out.”