According to the latest reports, death looks different than previously thought. Neurologists from Berlin have conducted studies that prove that it is possible to save a person up to a few minutes after the heart stops beating and the body shows no signs of life. Neurons are still functioning and the human brain is conscious after cardiac arrest for up to 5 minutes.
The experiment was carried out by neuroscientists from the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, chaired by Jens Dreier, on nine patients with progressive brain damage who refused resuscitation. In the last moment of their lives, the signals sent by their brains through special electrodes installed in them were registered. In this way, scientists hoped to obtain new information about dying. As it turned out, even after the last heartbeat, cells and neurons in the brain were still functioning.
It has been proven that death does not occur when the organ stops pumping blood and oxygen around the body. The body may be dead, but the brain is still working. Death should only be determined after the last electric wave has passed through the brain.
The researchers also emphasize that the final wave does not have to be equated with the precise moment of death, however.
“We have no way of defining the exact timing of brain death and total loss of consciousness,” admitted Jed Hartings of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine.