American researchers argue that the work of the cerebral cortex does not automatically stop with the clinical death of the body.
According to a study by American scientists, human consciousness does not turn off immediately after cardiac arrest, reports Live Science.
In the vast majority of cases, doctors determine death as soon as the heart stops, according to Sam Parney, director of intensive care and intensive care research at NYU Langone School of Medicine in New York. "From a technical point of view, this is how the moment of death is established: everything is based on the cessation of the heartbeat," the scientist explained.
As soon as this happens, blood stops flowing to the brain, which means that it stops functioning "almost instantly."
The work of the cerebral cortex also slows down, and the brain waves on the electric monitor are no longer detected. This initiates a chain reaction of cellular processes that eventually leads to the death of brain cells, but immediately after cardiac arrest, it can last for hours, the researcher says.
Sam Parney points out that in the first stage of death, a person may still be conscious. Evidence of this was the cases when, after cardiac arrest, which was soon resuscitated, patients could accurately describe what was happening around them at that time: working doctors and nurses, the words they exchanged, etc. These stories were later confirmed by the medical workers who were surprised to hear that their patients, while technically dead, could remember all these details.