“Consciousness when a person has been pronounced brain-dead”

Last updated on: September 19, 2018 at 10:29 pm by Dan Peterson

“Consciousness when a person has been pronounced brain-dead” 2018-09-19T22:29:38-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I was born in this hospital in southern California, though I think that it has been considerably rebuilt and modified since those by-gone days. However, the fact that I was born in a hospital inescapably suggests that there were hominids before even me, since some sort of incredibly ancient tool-using organism must have built it prior to my birth. (Public domain photo from Wikimedia Commons)

You would certainly be forgiven if you assumed from the title of this blog entry that it’s a defense of my being sentient even despite the claims of certain detractors of mine. Surprisingly, though, it’s not. It’s about something related, but quite distinct.

I know that it really irritates a small group of my worst critics, but irritating them isn’t actually the reason that I continue to post notes and excerpts from Pim van Lommel, Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience (New York: HarperCollins, 2010). To the contrary, there are two principal reasons why I do so: For one thing, a number of people have told me that they’re really enjoying these. And, second, posting the notes here encourages me to extract passages that I marked long ago but have never typed into my computer files.

So here’s another one:

Can we speak of consciousness when a person is in a coma? A recent article in Science looked at the scientific evidence of awareness in a patient in a vegetative state. This is a form of coma with spontaneous breathing and brain-stem reflexes. Brain tests showed that when this patient was instructed to imagine certain activities like playing tennis or moving around her home, the monitors recorded changes identical to those in healthy volunteers who carried out the same instructions. This means that the identified changes can be explained only by assuming that this patient, despite her vegetative state, not only understood the verbal instructions but also carried them out. The research demonstrated that this coma patient was aware of both herself and her surroundings but that her brain damage prevented her from communicating her thoughts and emotions directly to the outside world. In her book Uit coma (Out of Coma), Alison Korthals Altes also describes seeing staff and family in and around the intensive care unit during her three-week coma following a serious traffic accident.

Can we still speak of consciousness when a person has been pronounced brain-dead? In his book Droomvlucht in coma (Dream Flight in Coma), Jan Kerkhoffs tells us about his conscious experiences after neurologists declared him brain-dead following complications during brain surgery. Only because his family refused organ donations was he able to write about his experiences because, much to everybody’s surprise, he regained consciousness after three weeks in a coma. (ix-x)

***

In other interesting science news:

“Weird Infrared Signal Emanates Across Space, But What Created It?”

“The Unknowable Enigma of Babies’ Dreams: Infants spend twice as much time in REM sleep as adults—but experts still know little about what happens in their brains during those hours.”

“Stunning sphinx discovered at ancient Egyptian temple”

near-death experience

Previous Post

September 19, 2018

"There has been in fact a restoration of the gospel."

Next Post

September 19, 2018 "Gingrich is wrong; Palestinians are not 'invented'"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

According to Jesus, what defiles a person?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Money What comes out of the heart Food eaten Clothing