Death appears to be ‘reversible’ with proper treatment, NYU professor says

(Gray News) - Death appears to be “reversible” with proper treatment, according to a doctor and professor at New York University.

Dr. Sam Parnia, an associate professor at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, said studies suggest that our brain remains “salvageable for not only hours but possibly days” after death, according to the Telegraph.

In one study, researchers including Parnia, found some patients who suffered cardiac arrest had memories of their death up to an hour after their hearts had stopped. For 40% of those patients, brain activity returned to normal or near-normal levels an hour into CPR.

Another study from Yale involved decapitated pig brains being revived up to 14 hours after the beheadings.

Parnia said that the idea that death is final is “simply a social convention that does not conform with scientific realities.”

He said with interventions like extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines, which act as a body’s heart and lungs when those functions have failed, and what he calls a “CPR cocktail” which includes epinephrine, metformin, vitamin C, vasopressin and Sulbutiamine, patients should not have to die.

“If I have a heart attack and die tomorrow, why should I stay dead?” he said. “That’s not necessary anymore.”

Parnia wrote a book last year about his research called “Lucid Dying: The New Science Revolutionizing How We Understand Life and Death.”