What are some cases (if any) of people coming back from the dead?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the inquiry into cases where individuals were pronounced dead by medical professionals and subsequently returned to life. Participants are specifically not interested in near-death experiences or instances of misdiagnosis of death.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest looking for cases involving extreme cold, where a person's heart and breathing may stop for extended periods, potentially allowing for revival without significant tissue damage.
  • There is mention of "Lazarus Syndrome," which refers to cases where individuals spontaneously return to life after being pronounced dead.
  • One participant references a case from the BMJ involving a brain-dead patient who began breathing again, highlighting the anecdotal nature of such cases.
  • Participants discuss the distinction between being pronounced dead and cases where individuals are revived through medical intervention, with some arguing that the latter does not fit the OP's criteria.
  • There is a debate about the definitions of death, with some participants suggesting that the criteria for being declared dead can be ambiguous, especially in medical contexts.
  • Links to news articles and reports about a specific case of a baby declared dead but later found to still have brain activity are shared, though some participants express skepticism about whether this aligns with the OP's request.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the definitions of death or the criteria for the cases being discussed. Multiple competing views remain regarding what constitutes a valid case of returning from the dead.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations in the definitions and assumptions surrounding death and revival, with participants noting that medical intervention complicates the categorization of cases. The discussion also highlights the challenges in distinguishing between different scenarios of death and revival.

  • #31
I just found this article online today in Science:
Its probably not available to everyone, but I can't tell.

Its a long article that describes recent developments in human transplantation techniques and their impact on making living vs. non-living distinctions.

Of course with transplants you want living organs or tissues from dead people, which is kind of contradictory if using simple interpretations.

In individuals declared brain dead, organs can be recovered before life support is disconnected, as these people have already died; such machinery keeps organs oxygenated and healthy prior to transplant. But for this man the donation process would be altered: Life support had to be withdrawn for death to occur. His heart stopped, and his circulation with it.As is customary regardless of whether organs will be donated, physicians waited 5 minutes to ensure that the heart didn’t start beating again on its own. It did not, and the man was declared dead. The baton then passed to the organ recovery and transplant team. They clamped blood vessels running from the torso to the brain and reconnected his body to machines that circulated oxygenated blood, causing the heart to begin pumping again.These two interventions—initiating a heartbeat after death is declared and taking steps to prevent blood flow to the brain—are at the core of a raging debate about the ethics of such donations. To some people, the approach risks disrupting the dying process; to others, it allows that process to continue as the family desires, while also honoring individual or family wishes for organ donation.The debate touches on the definition of death, Moazami says. “When the heart stops, we say, ‘time of death, 5:20 a.m.’” But, “The fact of the matter is, death is a process. Death is not a time point.” Cells can take hours to die. Sophisticated machinery can induce a heartbeat hours after death, but does that make a person “alive”?

Screenshot 2023-05-12 at 10.41.46 AM.png


These kinds of approaches were not that uncommon when I was recovering corneas from dead people for an Oregon eye bank.
 
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  • #32
It sounds like you're asking if a miracle (by definition) has ever occurred here, OP.

Is that correct?
 

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