Medics have been urged to reconsider our final moments as a ‘gradual, interruptible process’ — and reconsider how long they spend trying to resuscitate patients
The brain can retain some degree of consciousness for “minutes to hours” after a patient has been declared dead by doctors, a science conference has heard.
After studying the near-death experiences of those who have recovered after experiencing a cardiac arrest, a researcher has called for a reappraisal of the “reversibility of death”.
She said her findings suggest that doctors should keep trying to save patients’ lives for longer, noting that hospitals should “re-evaluate [their] resuscitation efforts” and the point at which they begin harvesting organs for donation.
Death is defined as the irreversible cessation of circulatory and brain function — but the exact moment at which this takes place may be harder to pinpoint than previously thought.
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