Are Persons Reporting “Near-Death Experiences” Really near Death? A Study of Medical Records

Dados Bibliográficos

ID13628362
AutoresIan Stevenson (0000-0002-6920-3573, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, autor correspondente), Emily Williams Cook (University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland), Nicholas Mc Clean-Rice (Twin County Community Hospital, Galax, Virginia)
Ano1990
Volume20
Fascículo1
Páginas45-54
Data de publicação1990-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoOMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2190/d8q9-hhkx-5jwc-fd3v
OpenAlexW1984494651
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas9

In the cases of 107 patients who reported unusual experiences during an illness or injury, such as seeing their own body from a different position in space, medical records were obtained for forty patients. These were examined and rated according to the evidence they provided of grave, life-threatening illness or injury. Eighteen patients (45%) were judged to have had serious, life-threatening illnesses or injuries, but twenty-two (55%) were rated as having had no life-threatening condition. Nevertheless, thirty-three (82.5%) of the patients believed that they had been “dead” or near death. Deficiencies in the medical records may account for a few of the discrepancies between patients' reports and medical records. However, it seems likely that an important precipitator of the so-called near-death experience is the belief that one is dying—whether or not one is in fact close to death

Cause of death · Disease · Medical emergency · Medical record · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments · Surgery