YES, WE CAN BRING BACK SOME FROM DEATH

In 2018, there were widespread reports of a 53 year old Frenchman who had suffered a cardiac arrest and died. He was then resuscitated back to life after 18 hours from the arrest of his heart. This was brought to have been possible in part because his body had progressively cooled down naturally after his heart had stopped, through exposure to the outside cold. The medical team who revived him were reported as being 'stupefied' that they had been able to bring him back to life, in particular since he had not even suffered brain damage.

Interestingly, this man represents one of a growing number of extraordinary cases in which people who would otherwise be declared dead have now been revived. It is a testament to the incredible impact of resuscitation science - a science that is providing opportunities to literally reverse death, and in doing so, shedding light on the age-old question of what happens when we die.

Throughout history, the boundary between life and death was marked by the moment a person's heart stopped, breathing ceased, and brain function shut down. A  person became motionless, lifeless, and was deemed irreversibly dead. This is because once the heart stops beating, blood flow stops and oxygen is cut off from all the body's organs, including the brain. Consequently, within seconds, breathing stops and brain activity comes to a halt. Since the cessation of the heart literally occurs in a 'moment', the philosophical notion of a specific point in time of 'irreversible' death still pervades society today. The law, for example, relies on 'time of death', which corresponds to when the heart stops  beating.

The advent of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the 1960s was revolutionary, demonstrating that the heart could potentially be restarted after it had stopped, and what had been a clear black-and-white line was shown to be potentially reversible in some people. What was once called death - the ultimate end point - was now widely called cardiac arrest, and became a starting point.

From then on, it was only if somebody had requested not to be resuscitated or when CPR was deemed to have failed that people would be declared dead by 'cardiopulmonary criteria'. Biologically, cardiac arrest and death by cardiopulmonary criteria are the same process, albeit marked at different points in time dending on when a declaration of death is made.

Note: This writing has a specific purpose. In the case of cardiac arrest and death, even if a clinical death is announced, those arround the victim must certainly take the option of CPR under constant medical supervision. Try to continue it for a longer time.

(Indebted to health/opinion essay by Sam Parnis in leaps.org)

K V George