At last....
A large scale multi-center scientific study of NDE's is now underway (apparently) with the active collaboration of hospitals investigating NDE experiences, which occur in the operating theatre during cardiac arrest.
It's called the "Human Consciousness Project", and some people claim it could either "prove or disprove life after death"... (although what is "proof"?)
The study is expected to encompass about 15000 cardiac arrest incidents and is expected to last about 3 years.
The webcasts are quite interesting:
http://www.mindbodysymposium.com/ (http://www.mindbodysymposium.com/)
http://www.mindbodysymposium.com/human-consciousness-project.html (http://www.mindbodysymposium.com/human-consciousness-project.html)
A U.N. symposium, amazing, thanks for the link.
"What makes these experiences remarkable is that while studies of the brain during cardiac arrest have consistently that there is no brain activity during this period, these individuals have reported detailed perceptions that appear to indicate the presence of a high-level of consciousness in the absence of measurable brain activity."
Makes me wonder (even more) about the process of experience transfer to memory and if memory imprinting is measurable with an instrument/sensor at any time?
Someday if a technology of recording the senses, thoughts and memories for anyone to experience is accomplished, then can that be the only possibility of proof?
I was just about to post this related link in News & Media but I'll post it here instead
Not sure if this is the same project or not but it's interesting stuff
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7639798.stm
Thanks 007 for the extra link Yes that looks like it refers to exactly the same new study.
It seems from your link though that a similar smaller study has already been undertaken by Dr Penny Sartori - and results published in her book. Looks like I'll have to buy her book now because she didn't indicate what the results were other than:
"Current reductionist explanations for these experiences such as side effects of drugs, low levels of oxygen or that they are simply hallucinations are not supported by the clinical research so far."
So i guess they had some positive results. The new study looks like it is designed along very similar lines to Dr Sartori's so I guess she is having a significant input to the new study. Credit to her for sticking at it and taking 8 years to get her PhD. Her PhD treatise will be available from the University of Wales, for academic purposes. The book will be much easier to read though.
I too first thought of posting in News and Media :-) but it's a very quiet forum and I thought this was of sufficient general interest to merit the main forum, at least for a while!
Wow, book costs £85:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Near-death-Experiences-Hospitalized-Intensive-Patients/dp/077345103X/ref=sr_1_1 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Near-death-Experiences-Hospitalized-Intensive-Patients/dp/077345103X/ref=sr_1_1)
And with a title like that it sounds like it may well be her academic thesis. Not having £85 spare at the moment I'm off to my local library to get a copy...... :-)
Thank you all for the good links.
I keep hoping that science will catch up with what so many are experiencing.
I was a chaplain working with people in the hospital for a long time, and many ADE's related to me were certainly not the product of drugs or a dying brain. Many people could relate details of their surroundings (like EMT's or doctors and nurses working on them, or morgue personnel working with their bodies) some time AFTER they were pronounced dead!
Thanks DH for the insight. NDE accounts are anecdotal to those of us who haven't experienced them at first hand or spoken to someone who has witnessed it. It's good to hear from someone who has witnessed this type of thing first hand. I like your acronym ADE which I assume means After Death Experience; it's much more accurate than NDE especially for people who are actually declared clinically dead and show no EEG etc. For these cases NDE is actually the wrong term.