Study: Brains Function in Clinically Dead

L O S   A N G E L E S, June 29 -- A British scientiststudying heart attack patients says he is finding evidence thatsuggests that consciousness may continue after the brain hasstopped functioning and a patient is clinically dead.

The research, presented to scientists last week at theCalifornia Institute of Technology (Caltech), resurrects thedebate over whether there is life after death and whether thereis such a thing as the human soul.

"The studies are very significant in that we have a groupof people with no brain function … who have well-structured,lucid thought processes with reasoning and memory formation ata time when their brains are shown not to function," SamParnia, one of two doctors from Southampton General Hospital inEngland who have been studying so-called near-death experiences(NDEs), told Reuters in an interview.

"We need to do much larger-scale studies, but thepossibility is certainly there" to suggest that consciousness,or the soul, keeps thinking and reasoning even if a person'sheart has stopped, he is not breathing and his brain activityis nil, Parnia said.

Promising Data, Say Researchers

He said he and colleagues conducted an initial yearlongstudy, the results of which appeared in the February issue ofthe journal Resuscitation. The study was so promising thedoctors formed a foundation to fund further research andcontinue collecting data.

During the initial study, Parnia said, 63 heart attackpatients who were deemed clinically dead but were later revivedwere interviewed within a week of their experiences.

Of those, 56 said they had no recollection of the time theywere unconscious and seven reported having memories. Of those,four were labeled NDEs in that they reported lucid memories ofthinking, reasoning, moving about and communicating with othersafter doctors determined their brains were not functioning.

Among other things, the patients reported rememberingfeelings of peace, joy and harmony. For some, time sped up,senses heightened and they lost awareness of their bodies.