Seeking Proof in Near-Death Claims (18 Hospitals to study mystery of near-death experiences)

Wall Street Journal ^ | 10/26/2010

[SeekAndFind]

At 18 hospitals in the U.S. and U.K., researchers have suspended pictures, face up, from the ceilings in emergency-care areas. The reason: to test whether patients brought back to life after cardiac arrest can recall seeing the images during an out-of-body experience.

People who have these near-death experiences often describe leaving their bodies and watching themselves being resuscitated from above, but verifying such accounts is difficult. The images would be visible only to people who had done that.

"We've added these images as objective markers," says Sam Parnia, a critical-care physician and lead investigator of the study, which hopes to include 1,500 resuscitated patients. Dr. Parnia declined to say whether any have accurately described the images so far, but says he hopes to report preliminary results next year.

The study, coordinated by Southampton University's School of Medicine in England, is one of the latest and largest scientific efforts to understand the mystery of near-death experiences.

At least 15 million American adults say they have had a near-death experience, according to a 1997 survey—and the number is thought to be rising with increasingly sophisticated resuscitation techniques.

In addition to floating above their bodies, people often describe moving down a dark tunnel toward a bright light, feeling intense peace and joy, reviewing life events and seeing long-deceased relatives—only to be told that it's not time yet and land abruptly back in an ailing body.

The once-taboo topic is getting a lot of talk these days. In the new movie "Hereafter," directed by Clint Eastwood, a French journalist is haunted by what she experienced while nearly drowning in a tsunami.

Yet the fundamental debate rages on: Are these glimpses of an afterlife, are they hallucinations or are they the random firings of an oxygen-starved brain?

[MWestMom]

“You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”
Right on, right on, right on.

____________________________________________________________

Amen.

[Rome2000]

Not sure how old I was at the time, but remember these experiences clearly.

I know I would fly around a bit, then go back to my body in a crib.

Speaking of dogs, when I was about ten I had a weird dream, my dog was limping, and the dream was kind of shrouded in a weird fog, like I was looking onto a movie set with those fog machines going.

Next day, my brother slams a door and the dogs foot gets caught, and he's limping.

I was at my Grandfathers funeral, he was a preacher, very religious, read the bible daily.

During the ceremony inside the funeral home, while his fellow preacher is giving the sermon to a packed house in the chapel, his open coffin is there, all of a sudden, a pair of French doors on the side of the chapel bursts open all by themselves.

My uncle says to me,"there he goes".

[JouleZ]

Google it.

*********

You can’t Google a smell, fool. I know what rotting flesh and gangrene smell like. Get off your high horse.

[RegulatorCountry]

Unusual for a preacher’s funeral not to be held in his church.

[Rome2000]

They actually bussed in his congregation to the home, it has a large chapel, and that was the most logical thing to do, as his grave was about 100 yards from it.

[Rome2000]

I hope I can contribute to the discussions in a positive way as well.

OK, please do.

Thanks!

[The Comedian]

You can’t Google a smell, fool. I know what rotting flesh and gangrene smell like. Get off your high horse.

Nice to see our own little Special Ed. poster again.

Now stop laughing, everyone.

That's not nice.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Wpin]

During my NDE I saw the tunnel, had exquisite emotions of love, compassion, and wisdom while also reviewing my life. I did not see a light nor meet with anyone, but there was communication with what I presume was an angel or the Holy Spirit. Was a great experience and while I think it is good they are studying it, if they come up with anything short of it being real they will be wrong...