Post by snow on Oct 26, 2014 10:52:54 GMT -5
I am in the process of reading a book that has turned out to be a bit different from what I expected. Since my children's father died last month of a heart attack at 56 I started reading a book about resuscitation methods and how they vary depending on where you live, whether you're in a hospital or the community, whether you're 18 or under etc. It's called 'Erasing Death:The Science that is rewriting the boundaries between life and death' by Sam Parnia, M.D. He is a resuscitation doctor that is writing about being able to lengthen the amount of time people can be 'dead' before there is enough cell death to cause permanent damage and irreversible death and/or brain damage. That has lengthened quite a bit with a procedure that cools the body down to slow down the cell death while the resuscitation team has a change to restart the heart and then fix (if possible) the problem and then bring them back to body temperature. He also goes into the subject of what we call Near Death Experiences, but he doesn't feel that's what they should be called. He says they should be called Actual Death Experiences. I haven't got through the whole book yet and he has only just started to talk about that side of it. But it is an interesting read so far. I realize that my ex probably could have been resuscitated if the hospital or EMS had done that type of procedure. He had a blocked right aorta artery. The procedure is changing the amount of time a person can be dead before irreparable cellular death happens.
Sometimes people are very good in one area but then fall down in other areas. Linus Pauling, Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the Nobel Peace Prize. His ideas and research into mega-doses of vitamin C - not so successful.
I haven't got very far into that part of the book yet. I was more interested in the resuscitation science. I know it's been around for awhile but it's not used universally. If it was we might see more successes? Do you know if it's used by the EMS and hospitals in your community? If it makes such a difference in the amount of time it takes to prevent cell death then it would seem to be not only a life saving venture but also a cost effective venture. It makes more sense to send people home to their families instead of having them in 24 hour nursing care with brain damage because they were resuscitated but not before there was irreversible brain damage.
As far as the other part of his book goes, I am seeing some things I question about his determinations. I haven't got to the part where he is responsible for the suspending of items to see if people see them yet. Maybe it isn't in this book. Anyway, enjoying it even if I question some of the things. Or maybe I'm enjoying it because it makes me think and I am questioning some of the things? ha.