>A large study is to examine near-death experiences in cardiac arrest
>patients.
>
>Doctors at 25 UK and US hospitals will study 1,500 survivors to see if
>people with no heartbeat or brain activity can have "out of body"
>experiences.
>
>Some people report seeing a tunnel or bright light, others recall
>looking down from the ceiling at medical staff.
>
>The study, due to take three years and co-ordinated by Southampton
>University, will include placing on shelves images that could only be
>seen from above.
>
>To test this, the researchers have set up special shelving in
>resuscitation areas. The shelves hold pictures - but they're visible
>only from the ceiling.
>
>Dr Sam Parnia, who is heading the study, said: "If you can demonstrate
>that consciousness continues after the brain switches off, it allows
>for the possibility that the consciousness is a separate entity.
>
>"It is unlikely that we will find many cases where this happens, but
>we have to be open-minded.
>
>"And if no one sees the pictures, it shows these experiences are
>illusions or false memories.
>
>"This is a mystery that we can now subject to scientific study."
>
>Dr Parnia works as an intensive care doctor, and felt from his daily
>duties that science had not properly explored the issue of near-death
>experiences.
>
>He said: "Contrary to popular perception, death is not a specific
>moment.
>
>"It is a process that begins when the heart stops beating, the lungs
>stop working and the brain ceases functioning - a medical condition
>termed cardiac arrest.
>
>"During a cardiac arrest, all three criteria of death are present.
>There then follows a period of time, which may last from a few seconds
>to an hour or more, in which emergency medical efforts may succeed in
>restarting the heart and reversing the dying process.
>
>"What people experience during this period of cardiac arrest provides
>a unique window of understanding into what we are all likely to
>experience during the dying process."
>
>Dr Parnia and medical colleagues will analyse the brain activity of
>1,500 cardiac arrest survivors, and see whether they can recall the
>images in the pictures.
>
>Hospitals involved include Addenbrookes in Cambridge, University
>Hospital in Birmingham and the Morriston in Swansea, as well as nine
>hospitals in the US.
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7621608.stm