Scientists say people who die in hospital are likely to hear harrowing sentence even after they’re dead
Scientists have found something very interesting about what happens to the brain just before and even after a person dies. They say that even when someone has officially passed away, their brain might still be active for a short time, and they may still be able to hear things happening around them, including the moment doctors declare them dead.
When someone dies in a hospital, the usual process is that a doctor or nurse checks for signs of life. They look for a heartbeat and breathing. If neither is present, and the heart has completely stopped pumping blood to the brain, the person is then officially declared dead. At that point, the medical team writes down the exact time and cause of death.
But here’s where it gets more surprising. A major study led by Dr. Sam Parnia looked into what happens during those last moments of life. The study followed 567 patients in the UK and US who were given CPR after their hearts had stopped between 2017 and 2020. Only a small number survived, but many who did shared strange and powerful stories about what they experienced while they were technically “dead.”
The survivors described feeling like they were separated from their bodies, watching what was going on around them without any pain or fear. Some said they had clear thoughts and even reflected deeply on their lives—what they had done, how they had treated others, and what their intentions had been.
One major discovery in the study was that the brain showed sudden bursts of activity—sometimes up to an hour after CPR started. This spike in brain waves suggests that people might still be aware for a short time even after they’re declared dead. In fact, they might even hear the doctors saying that they’ve died.
Dr. Parnia explained that these experiences are very different from dreams or hallucinations. He believes they are real and meaningful events that happen at the edge of life. He also pointed out that this awareness doesn’t seem to be painful or upsetting. Instead, it seems to be a unique and peaceful moment of consciousness.
Even though this research doesn’t answer everything about death and consciousness, it opens the door to more studies in the future. It suggests that the human brain, and our awareness, might continue for a while even after the body has stopped functioning.
The full study was published in 2023 in the journal Resuscitation, and scientists hope to keep learning more about what really happens during our final moments.
