NYMC Faculty Publications

Guidelines and Standards for the Study of Death and Recalled Experiences of Death--A Multidisciplinary Consensus Statement and Proposed Future Directions

Sam Parnia, Critical Care and Resuscitation Research, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York.
Stephen G. Post, Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook Medical Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, New York.
Matthew T. Lee, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California.
Tom P. Aufderheide, Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Charles D. Deakin, Department of Anesthetics, University Hospital Southampton, Southampton, UK.
Bruce Greyson, Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Jeffrey Long, Mary Bird Perkins Terrebonne General Medical Cancer Center, Houma, Louisiana.
Anelly M. Gonzales, Critical Care and Resuscitation Research, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York.
Elise L. Huppert, Critical Care and Resuscitation Research, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York.
Analise Dickinson, Critical Care and Resuscitation Research, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York.
Stephan Mayer, Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York.
Briana Locicero, Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine, Stony Brook Medical Center, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York, New York.
Jeff Levin, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
Anthony Bossis, Department of Psychiatry, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York.
Everett Worthington, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
Peter Fenwick, Department of Neurophysiology, Sleep and Epilepsy, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK.
Tara Keshavarz Shirazi, Critical Care and Resuscitation Research, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York.

Author Type(s)

Faculty

Journal Title

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

First Page

5

Last Page

21

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-2022

Department

Neurology

Abstract

An inadvertent consequence of advances in stem cell research, neuroscience, and resuscitation science has been to enable scientific insights regarding what happens to the human brain in relation to death. The scientific exploration of death is in large part possible due to the recognition that brain cells are more resilient to the effects of anoxia than assumed. Hence, brain cells become irreversibly damaged and "die" over hours to days postmortem. Resuscitation science has enabled life to be restored to millions of people after their hearts had stopped. These survivors have described a unique set of recollections in relation to death that appear universal. We review the literature, with a focus on death, the recalled experiences in relation to cardiac arrest, post-intensive care syndrome, and related phenomena that provide insights into potential mechanisms, ethical implications, and methodologic considerations for systematic investigation. We also identify issues and controversies related to the study of consciousness and the recalled experience of cardiac arrest and death in subjects who have been in a coma, with a view to standardize and facilitate future research.

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