Is there pain at the time of death?

The physical organism is so constituted that it can endure only a certain amount of pain and suffering; when these limits are reached unconsciousness mercifully ensues. There is no pain in physical death. The dread of death is educational—the fear is only comparable to the fear of the young bird to trust its wings. 

—Dr James M. Peebles 

The Encyclopaedia of Death and Life in the Spirit World—Opinions and Experiences from Eminent Sources