{"id":12668,"date":"2026-02-16T11:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T12:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=12668"},"modified":"2026-02-18T21:33:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:33:36","slug":"questions-are-being-raised-about-how-we-die-and-it-could-affect-organ-donation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/questions-are-being-raised-about-how-we-die-and-it-could-affect-organ-donation\/","title":{"rendered":"Questions are being raised about how we die, and it could affect organ donation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"healthcare\t<\/div>
Death may be far more drawn out than we ever thought possible (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For most of us, we typically consider death<\/a> to be the moment our heart stops beating.<\/p>\n

The end of our lives are marked by the continuous single beep of a heart monitor flatlining, or at least that’s how it works in the movies.<\/p>\n

But our final moments may look different than initially thought. In fact, our consciousness<\/a> could last for hours after we’re pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

That’s right, we could be aware for so long after death that one hopeful scientist has suggested doctors not only ‘re-evaluate [their resuscitation efforts’, but reconsider the time frame for when they begin to harvest organs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anna Fowler, a student at Arizona State University, told attendees of the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Phoenix<\/a>, that death may not be the sudden power-off transition from alive to deceased we previously thought.<\/p>\n

Death is a process, not a switch<\/h2>\n

‘Emerging evidence suggests biological and neural functions do not cease abruptly,’ Anna said. ‘Instead they decline from minutes to hours, suggesting that death unfolds as a process rather than an instantaneous event.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Close\t<\/div>
Scientists are questioning the phases of death (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘Cardiac arrest studies show that up to 20% of survivors recall conscious experiences during periods of absent cortical activity, with some reporting verifiable perceptions.’<\/p>\n

What she’s saying is our consciousness could still be present up to hours after we’re thought to be dead. This is backed up by a fifth of people who had a period of no brain activity being able to recall what was going on around them during that time.<\/p>\n

Anna believes ‘elements of consciousness may briefly exist beyond the measurable activity of the brain’, suggesting that we could be aware of things even when our brain is failing.<\/p>\n

She echoes the beliefs of Sam Parnia, director of the critical care & resuscitation research division at New York<\/a> University Langone Medical Center, who says death is much more drawn out than first thought.<\/p>\n

‘During the last decade, we\u2019ve realised it\u2019s only after a person has died that the cells inside their body, including the brain, begin their own death process,’ he told The New York Academy of Sciences. <\/p>\n

‘We used to think that you had five or 10 minutes before brain cells died from a lack of oxygen, but we now know that\u2019s wrong. You have hours, if not days, before the brain and other organs in the body are irreversibly damaged after death.’<\/p>\n

Our consciousness may not come from our brain<\/h2>\n

A 2023 study in the Resuscitation journal found consciousness emerges as long as 35 to 60 minutes into CPR, and that’s just the start.<\/p>\n

Even then, it’s unknown what you might be able to experience after your heart stops beating, because Sam says our consciousness may not even be produced by our brain.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"A\t<\/div>
Our consciousness could exist longer than we think after our heart stops beating (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

‘Nobody has ever been able to show how brain cells, which produce proteins, can generate something so different i.e. thoughts or consciousness,’ he adds. ‘Interestingly, there has never been a plausible biological mechanism proposed to account for this.<\/p>\n

‘Your mind, your consciousness, your psyche, the thing that makes you, may not be produced by the brain. The brain might be acting more like an intermediary.’<\/p>\n

Of course, it’s all speculative, but what it means is our understanding of when we cease to exist after death is very limited.<\/p>\n

Death should have phases<\/h2>\n

Anna believes that death is more of a ‘gradual, interruptible process’ that science could adapt ‘not just to delay but to challenge outright’.<\/p>\n

The student even suggested that death should be assigned phases, just like cancer<\/a> has stages.<\/p>\n

‘Research has shown that the brain does not shut down instantly when the heart stops,’ Anna explained. <\/p>\n

‘Brief bursts of organised brain activity, often called consciousness, can occur after cardiac arrest.’<\/p>\n

Wherever our consciousness comes from, we could be aware for much longer than we ever thought possible.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tWe experience 'life recall' the moment we die\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

There\u2019s a saying that your life flashes before your eyes when you die, it\u2019s a phenomena dubbed \u2018life recall<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll often hear people who\u2019ve had a brush with death<\/a> say their whole life replayed in their mind \u2014 and it turns out, scientists have proved something like this could very well happen when you die.<\/p>\n

Neuroscientists have actually recorded the brain activity of someone as they died, and found that their brain waves at the time of death were similar to those that happen when we dream<\/a>, recall memories and meditate.<\/p>\n

The study, published in the Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience<\/a> in 2023, found that our brain could remain active and coordinated during and even after the \u2018transition to death\u2019, responding to the change with a \u2018programmed\u2019 ending.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Elderly\t<\/div>
When we die, scientists think they know what we see in our minds (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

This finding came after an 87-year-old patient developed epilepsy<\/a> and an EEG was being used to detect the seizures so they could treat the patient.<\/p>\n

While they were recording the brain activity, the patient had a heart attack<\/a> and died, meaning the activity of a dying brain was recorded for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

The brain waves found were conducive to it replaying a last recall of important life events just before we die. The scientists taking part in this study also questioned whether organ donation should be pushed back, due to our consciousness.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n


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