4 to 15% have had a near-death
experience – almost 800 times a day in the US
Surveys from
the US, Australia and Germany estimate that between 4 and 15% of the population
have had a near-death experience. In 1982 a Gallup poll estimated that 8
million Americans have had a near-death experience and a more resent study, a US News & World Report in March of
1997, found that 15 million have had the experience. Also a Gallup and Proctor
survey from 1981 estimated that 15% of Americans may have had a near-death
experience. Based on these numbers, the Near-Death Experience Research
Foundation estimates that 774 people have a near-death experience each day in
the US.
It can happen to anyone
In 2006,
after being hit by a road side bomb in Iraq, ABC anchor Bob Woodruf had a
near-death experience, which he revealed live on CNN:
18% of survivors of cardiac arrest
have a near-death experience
In 2001, the
first prospective scientific study of near-death experiences was published in
the international medical journal The
Lancet. Set up in 14 hospitals over a 10-year period the study found that
18% of people who were clinically dead after suffering cardiac arrest and then
successfully resuscitated had a near-death experience.
Near-death experiences seem to occur
during clinical death
The
International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) found that of more
than 800 near-death experiences, 25% reported that the experience occurred
during clinical death. Also Peter Fenwick found that 10% of the people in his
research said that they had their near-death experience during ‘unconsciousness,’
and Penny Satori found that people were able remember the onset of their
resuscitation process at a time when they were clinically dead.The most famous case is the case of Pam
Reynolds, who during a very complicated brain operation in 1991 was clinically
dead for 55 min. during which time she was able to observe and hear things in
the operating room that were later verified.
Near-death experiences suggest life
after death
Most people,
80 – 90%, who have a near-death experience will say that they are certain that
life continues after death. But also the scientific evidence would seem to
point in this direction if in fact the near-death experience occurs during
clinical death. About 15 seconds after cardiac arrest the brain becomes
completely inactive due to lack of oxygen, and therefore, no experience – not
even a hallucination – should be possible during clinical death.Based on this the near-death experience is a
challenge to classical science where skeptics are forced to argue that the
near-death experience happens before the brain becomes inactive. This is where
the debate stands.