Problems with this section; for Frank (Agnosticism)

by David Turell , Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 18:32 (5476 days ago) @ Frank Paris

"When a patient (in the article) has a flat EEG and EKG and can still tell you who did what and where, while he was in that state, describing it when he is awake later, it makes one wonder what is going on."
> 
> You mentioned this once before. A flatline for an EKG means nothing re NDE's, as the brain could still be functioning for a short while. The EEG could very easily be missing marginal activity that is still going on that could be producing the mental states that produce NDE's. Anyhow, that's probably what's going on.-The brain functon before unconsciousness is 10 seconds after the heart stops pumping. The lower centers controlling autonomic activity (breathing for example) takes several minutes to stop. The EEG reads cortical activity where thought occurs. This patient took 45 minutes to resuscitate, coming in from a pasture where he collapsed. His eyes are shut and he is totally unresponsive to stimuli appllied by the resuscitators. This is not the only case inthe world literature. There are many. Skeptical attitudes like yours are very important as this inquiry goes on. I don't know how to explain it physiologically.-Then, there is the lady with the deep basilar artery (Base of Brain) aneuryism, taken down to 60 degrees hypothermia,eyes taped shut, intubated and oxygenated, ears covered with a sounding device to give little EEG spikes so as to reassure everyone they have't killed the brain. These ear devices totally excluded external sound and produced 100 decibel clicks.They drained out most of her blood to take pressure off the aneurysm. Then the craniotomy saw is taken out and used, 90 minutes after annesthia started. She came outof her body and floated over the scene, while of course, completly immobilized and tied down to the table. Any inadvertent move by her body could have led to disaster. She acurately descibed the way the saw looked, the sound of the saw and a female voice discussing the size of her arteries and veins! The surgical team corroborated all of her observations afterward. Michael Sabom, M.D. (Light & Death, 1998.)