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we define death. Death is commonly regarded as occurring when the heart
stops beating. But what if brain activity carries on? Does that mean the

person might still be conscious, or in some way still experiencing life? And if
so, does that mean doctors should be more cautious about declaring a per-

son dead? Should they wait before harvesting organs? If doctors delay too
long, some organs would be wasted and thus not available for transplant to
save other patients.

Research into NDEs continues to come up against obstacles. Case
studies are done after the event. Many patients are reluctant to discuss their

experiences. Details are lost, forgotten, or distorted. One example of the
difficulties researchers face is a study Parnia designed at the suggestion of
pioneering NDE researcher Peter Fenwick. Parnia arranged to have objects

or pictures installed near the ceilings in cardiac units in 15 hospitals in the
U.S., the United Kingdom, and Austria. The idea was that patients floating
above their bodies at death might see these things. The items would not be

visible to anyone on the floor. In fact, the staff was often never informed
that the objects were there. But not a single patient saw one. The study had
another bit of bad luck. Of the 2,060 patients Parnia studied over 4 years,

330 survived cardiac arrests. Of those, 140 agreed to be interviewed. A pre-
liminary screening left 101 subjects for the study. Of those, nine had NDEs,

using Greyson’s scale. Only two recalled out-of-body experiences. One be-
came too ill to continue with the study. The remaining patient, a 57-year-old
man, recalled details of his resuscitation that would have occurred 3 min-

utes after his heart stopped. He might have advanced the research dramat-
ically. But the room he’d been in didn’t have any of the objects or pictures

installed near the ceiling. So there was no way to know exactly what he

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