"Study into near-death experiences" - news release with my thoughts and links

What are your thoughts about near death experiences?  Have you had one?  What happens to all the energy?  What is consciosness?  From what I have heard the fear of the unknown and the sense of separation at death are removed in most cases of people who have had NDEs, replaced by a great sense of purpose.  

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This sounds like a good study to watch.  I know simply reading the article below has sent me on quest to learn what others are saying and researching on the topic of 'near death experiences' from the personal recountings, philosophical queries, scientific stances and ongoing research across disciplines.    - Anita  

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"A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn." ~Author Unknown~  

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Study into near-death experiences
By Jane Dreaper
Health correspondent, BBC News September 18, 2008

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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.

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Some people report seeing a tunnel or bright light, others recall looking down from the ceiling at medical staff.
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 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.
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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."
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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.
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Process of death
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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."
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"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."
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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.
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Hospitals involved include Addenbrookes in Cambridge, University Hospital in Birmingham and the Morriston in Swansea, as well as nine hospitals in the US.

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URL Source:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7621608.stm    

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Something to think about:    The following is from a Demember 6, 2003 correspondence posting by Michael Roll on the website 'The Campaign for Philosophical Freedom'  

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If - Should the continuation of consciousness and the mind at a time when the clinical criteria of death have been met and the brain has ceased functioning can be proven through large scale, reproducible scientific studies, then this will have huge implications for society.

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Then - It would indicate that the mind/consciousness may be a scientific entity, which is as of yet undiscovered, but which is not produced by the brain and is hence a separate entity from it.
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Hypothesize/Possibility -  Conceptually this may be rather similar to the discovery of electromagnetic phenomenon in the 19th century or Quantum processes which could not have been reduced down to the science of their time, however they do exist and were eventually discovered many years after they were first proposed.
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Based upon - Not only do we now know that they exist but we currently use them in our daily lives for example when we watch television, or use the microwave oven. It may be that in the same manner, we cannot reduce mind/consciousness down to chemical processes occurring in the brain.
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Interpretation - If proven it would also mean that the age-old philosophical concept of the 'soul' may be the same as the more modern concepts of mind/consciousness and it is this that appears to remain after death    

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BBC News articles - SEE ALSO
Have you had a near-death experience?
19 Sep 08 |  Have Your Say

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/7624767.stm
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Show me heaven
26 Jan 04 |  Magazine

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3429619.stm
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'Near death' has biological basis
11 Apr 06 |  Health
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4898726.stm      

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Related Links:  

Sam Parnia, MD  Dr. Parnia is a registrar in internal and respiratory medicine. While working on the medical and coronary care units of Southampton General Hospitals, he set up, with Dr Peter Fenwick, the first ever study of near death experiences in the UK.  Quote by Dr Parnia from Horizon mission statement:  "Are we humans simply a collection of chemical processes or do we have a separate component that gives us life? What is the relationship between the mind and the brain and what happens to our mind and consciousness at the end of life?"

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Horizon - Biographies of NDE investigators http://www.horizonresearch.org/biography-of-investigators.html

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Dr Sam Parnia Sep 8, 2008 talks on the show Explorer: The Moment of Death. Then the guys talk about how they want to be disposed of after they die. Audio Presentation.

http://odeo.com/episodes/23241134-09-02-08-Seg-02-Dr-Sam-Parnia-from-Explorer-Moment-of-Death  

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Campaign for Philosophical Freedom

http://www.cfpf.org.uk/  

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Resuscitation Council (UK)

http://www.resus.org.uk/siteIndx.htm  

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Southampton General Hospital http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southampton_General_Hospital http://www.suht.nhs.uk/

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University of Southampton

http://www.soton.ac.uk/    

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NDE - Near Death Experience Links:  

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Horizon - Research Foundation Science At The Hhorizon Of Life http://www.horizonresearch.org/

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Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife

http://www.near-death.com/  

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NDERF  - Near Death Experience Research Foundation

http://www.nderf.org/  

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HowStuffWorks How Near-death Experiences Work

http://science.howstuffworks.com/near-death-experience.htm  

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International Association for Near-Death Experiences

http://www.iands.org/  

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Skeptic's Dictionary - near-death experiences (NDEs)

http://skepdic.com/nde.html  

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Near death experience - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-death_experience  

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article Are near-death experiences a dream  Nature News

 http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2006/04/are_neardeath_e.html

http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060410/full/news060410-2.html

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article Near Death Experiences by Sam Parnia MD

http://www.scimednet.org/library/articlesN75+/N76Parnia_nde.htm  

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Lisa - near-death experience from seizure

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/triggers11.html  

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Science News - Near-death Events Take Arresting Turn

 http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/4148/title/Near-death_events_take_arresting_turn  

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Near-death experiences linked to sleep cycles

 http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2006/04/neardeath_exper.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/10/AR2006041001401.html?nav=rss_print/asection

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Whitley Strieber's Unknown Country - Dec 6, 2001 -Doctor to Conduct NDE Tests http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=1049

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I'd like to get the video Round Trip directed by Timothy O'Reilly in 1996.   Has anyone seen or heard about it?  I saw a review on Amazon.com that had mixed reviews but overall mostly positive.

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