An important veridical near-death experience

In a recent video interview, pioneer cardiac surgeon Dr. Lloyd Rudy tells the story of a patient who came back to life after being declared dead, and what he told him. After emergency heart surgery, the patient could not be resuscitated and the doctors turned off the bypass equipment. For at least 20 minutes the patient had no heart beat or blood pressure. However, the patient's heart slowly started up on its own and the patient was revived. He reported an NDE with remarkable veridical (real and verified) perceptions of the persons present and unusual details of the operating room, during the time he had no heart beat or blood pressure. Several NDE researchers are looking into this case.

Dr. Rudy recounts a second story of a patient whose bleeding during surgery miraculously stopped when a "presence" was felt in the room.

Dr Oz Program Asks - NDEs Are They Real?

Videos from the recent Dr. Oz program on the topic of near-death experiences are available online. The links to each of the five separate segments are listed below. Especially appealing is segment number five featuring physician Dr. Mary Neal telling the riveting narrative of her NDE from drowning and how the subsequent aftereffects changed her views on life and her practice of medicine.  The program also features an interview with Dr. Sam Parnia (Part 4) and his work with the AWARE project.

Dr. Oz Investigates NDEs - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Dr. Oz Interviews Dr. Mary Neal (Part 5).

Diane Corcoran featured in Guideposts article

    "[Corcoran] met a young man in the [surgery] recovery area whose arm had been blown off. Drawn to speak to the young soldier, she asked him how he was doing. 'You'll never believe me,' he replied. Urged on, he said that he when he was hit, he felt himself being lifted into the air. He looked down and could see bodies strewn about and he just knew which ones would make it and which ones were going to die. He then felt himself 'going to another place.' With tears rolling down his cheeks, he described this place as 'beautiful' and 'wonderful.' But, he was told, he would have to go back, at which point he woke up in his body. 'It was real, it wasn't a dream, it happened to me,' he insisted."

Read the full article here.

New findings on combat soldiers' NDEs

A study conducted by Tracy Goza, doctoral candidate at the University of North Texas, breaks ground in its findings that combat soldiers have different near-death experiences (NDEs) than civilians.

Goza found that combat NDEs have less depth than non-combat NDEs, meaning soldiers tend to experience fewer or less intense features of NDEs than civilians, such as the sense of being out of one's body, feelings of peace, and encountering deceased loved ones. The difference may be due to combat soldiers living with more stress, or the result of combat veterans offering cautious accounts of their NDEs. For more information, click here.

ABC's "Nightline Primetime" explores NDEs

ABC's “Primetime Nightline: Beyond Belief” covered the topic of near-death experiences on August 3. ABC’s Bob Woodruff shares his own NDE, as well as the experience of others: what people see, feel and hear when they describe crossing over from this world to the next before returning back. Woodruff talks candidly about what he remembers in the minutes after a vehicle he was traveling in while in Iraq during 2006 hit an improvised explosive device. Woodruff saw his body floating beneath him. In the program, he speaks with others who report the same type of out of body experience, as well as theologians, preachers, researchers and physicians who try to explain it. The stories include those of Don Piper, Mary Jo Rapini and Jake Finkbonner. Includes commentaries by researchers Jeffrey Long, Andrew Newberg, Caroline Myss and Sam Parnia. The full episode is now available here.

The Other Near-Death Experiences

Past IANDS president, Nancy Evans Bush, has launched a website "dancingpasthedark" featuring a blog devoted to commentary on distressing near-death experiences.  Beginning with the following quote from Alex Lukeman, a psychotherapist and NDE-er, Nancy is braving an internet void attempting to give voice to a subject often bypassed in the rush to emphasize insights gained from those experiences perceived as mostly delightful:

Events of the deep psyche can involve “the destruction of traditional and habitual patterns of perception and understanding, including religious belief structures and socially accepted concepts of the nature of human existence and behavior.”

Then you wake up the next morning and . . . what?

To follow this emerging collective discussion, go to ... http://dancingpastthedark.wordpress.com/

Science Channel: Is There Life After Death?

Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman Episode 1 was shown on the Science Channel on June 8. This episode deals with near-death experience and life after death.

The full program is now available: part 1, part2, part 3, part4, part 5 (44 min. total).

PBS Program Features Panel Discusson on NDEs

WVIA, a PBS TV station near Scranton, PA aired an expert panel discussion on the topic of near-death experiences on the weekly series “Call The Doctor” with moderator, George Thomas.  The hour long program aired live on Tuesday, March 29^th and is available for online viewing.  The panel features David Bennett, near-death experiencer and leader of the Upstate NY IANDS group; Dr. Jeffrey Long & Rene Jorgensen, NDE researchers and authors; plus Tim Cannon, PhD, psychology professor and neuroscientist from the University of Scranton. 

"Heaven is for Real"

An amazing NDE account of 4-year-old Colton Burpo who, during an emergency appendectomy, slips from consciousness and enters heaven. Colton's story includes very interesting verifications of his deceased great grandfather (who died 30 years prior to Colton's birth) and his mother's prior miscarriage, with impossible-to-know details about each. For another, more detailed news story about Colton's experience, click here.

Also see the newly released, best-selling book about Colton's NDE, Heaven is for Real: A little boy's astounding story of his trip to heaven and back.

Dean Radin interviews Bruce Greyson about NDEs

Dean Radin, Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), recently conducted an extensive interview with NDE researcher Bruce Greyson, Director of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia Medical School, about near-death experiences.

Greyson discusses how cumulative research into NDEs challenges both a classical physical view of reality, and an exclusively neuroscience-based view of consciousness (42 min).