In the 30 seconds to two minutes after supported breathing ceased, two out of four comatose patients who had EEGs recorded after their respirators were turned off showed a surge in gamma waves, particularly at the temporo-parietal junction in their brains. What does this ‘mean’ or does it mean anything? Were these people ‘conscious’ for that brief time? There is no way of knowing, but some have suggested that these EEG recordings may be a record of the experience of dying and that by analysing them we may come closer to understanding that experience.
For a long time, the experience of dying has been thought by many to be the same as a ‘Near-Death Experience’ (including such things as: a sense of looking at the person’s own body from the outside – autoscopy; a tunnel and/or white light; a sense of reliving important memories). This EEG observation does provide evidence of brain activity as these people’s brains were subject to increasing hypoxia – deprivation of oxygen. A similar recording was obtained by chance from an 87-year-old man who died unexpectedly while having an EEG recording. Comparable recordings were also obtained when rats were euthanised by cardiac arrest.
These observations are fascinating, but they don’t really provide evidence for or against the beliefs of many that Near-Death Experiences occur when the immaterial soul or mind is in a process of leaving the body. This interpretation cannot be proved or disproved.
Some Near-Death Experiences such as autoscopy can occur in situations other than those where a person is close to death. These situations often include extreme stress and privation. Some argue that all these situations are Near-Death Experiences although that does stretch the concept a lot to include situations where there was a high risk of death rather than, as in cardiac arrest, almost certain death.
In many accounts of Near-Death Experiences there is a moment where the person chooses not to go toward the light or the tunnel. Related stories of dying people apparently or allegedly choosing to die at some particular point (e.g. when all the family had arrived by the bedside) are also common. Again, it is impossible to prove or disprove the validity of these observations. This idea has contributed to a common script for movies or television shows where the injured and dying person is begged or commanded: “stay with me” or “don’t go” as if they have control over their ability to remain conscious and, in the beautiful words of Dylan Thomas, not “go gently into that good night”. We humans like to think we can control the uncontrollable and that we can also completely penetrate the mysteries of life and death, but I think we over-estimate our abilities in both these areas.