Sam Parnia

Last updated
Sam Parnia
Born
London, England
Alma mater Guys and St. Thomas' Medical School (MBBS), University of Southampton (Ph.D.), University of London and Weill Cornell Medical Center (residency)
Known forResearch on near-death experiences and cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Scientific career
Fields Intensive-care medicine
Institutions New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York

Sam Parnia is a British [1] associate professor of Medicine at the NYU Langone Medical Center where he is also director of research into cardiopulmonary resuscitation. In the United Kingdom, he is director of the Human Consciousness Project at the University of Southampton. Parnia is known for his work on near-death experiences and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Contents

Education and career

Parnia graduated from Guy's and St. Thomas' Medical School in London, where he received his MBBS in 1995. [2] [3] He then pursued further studies at the University of Southampton, working as a clinical research fellow and obtaining a PhD in cell biology in 2007. [4] [5] He maintained an honorary research fellow title at the University of Southampton and continued his collaboration through the Human Consciousness Project, which he founded and directs. [6] [7]

After completing his fellowship training in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of London and the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City in 2010, Parnia joined the faculty at Stony Brook University School of Medicine as a member of the Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Division. [6] He also leads research on cardiopulmonary resuscitation at Stony Brook University. [6] [8] His British medical qualifications were recognized as a medical degree by the State of New York in 2012. [3] In 2013, he published the book "Erasing Death: The Science That Is Rewriting the Boundaries Between Life and Death," which provides an updated overview of cardiac resuscitation. [9] Since 2015, he has been the director of the Critical Care & Resuscitation Research Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center. [10]

Additionally, Parnia has served as the chairman of the Horizon Research Foundation, a charity founded in 1987 to support research and education in the fields of death, cardiac arrest, mind, brain, and consciousness studies [11] As of 2018, the charity has ceased to exist. [11]

In August 2024 he published Lucid Dying, a blend of new research and personal experience which "tackles fundamental questions about existence and awareness." [12] [13]

Research

Optimization of brain resuscitation after cardiac arrest

Parnia is known for his involvement and research in the field of emergency medicine and cardiac arrest resuscitation. [14] [15] He conducts research on, and advocates for wider application of, best practices for resuscitation when people die; namely better, perhaps automated cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques, the use of targeted temperature management, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, brain oximetry, and prevention of reperfusion injury, and wrote his book, Erasing Death (published in the United Kingdom as the Lazarus Effect) as part of that effort. [2] [14] He says that many people who are actually dead from heart attacks or blood loss could be resuscitated up to 24 hours after their decease if contemporary best practices as defined by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation were used promptly. [14]

The main focus of Parnia's research has been in the optimization of brain monitoring and oxygen delivery methods with a goal of reducing long-term brain injuries as well as disorders of consciousness such as a persistent vegetative state. [16] In order to avoid these disabilities, Parnia believes the study of consciousness should be a routine part of cardiac arrest brain injury research. [17] The other side of his work, which he conducts with a team at the State University of New York and across multiple other medical centers in the United Kingdom, is consciousness during cardiac arrest. This includes near-death experiences. [2] [15] [14] [18]

Consciousness and near death experience research

Parnia has advocated for the use of the term "actual death experience" instead of near death experience (NDE), to describe human experiences that occur during a period of cardiac arrest. He has stated: “contrary to perception, death is not a specific moment but a potentially reversible process that occurs after any severe illness or accident causes the heart, lungs and brain to cease functioning. If attempts are made to reverse this process, it is referred to as ‘cardiac arrest’; however, if these attempts do not succeed it is called ‘death’. He has mostly studied those who have no heart beat and no detectable brain activity for periods of time and believes cardiac arrest is the optimal model to help understand the human experience of death. [2] [19] [20]

In 2001, Parnia and colleagues published the results of a year-long study of cardiac arrest survivors. 63 survivors were interviewed; 7 had memories of the time they were unconscious and 4 had experiences that, according to the study criteria, were NDEs. Out of body claims were tested by placing figures on suspended boards facing the ceiling, not visible from the floor. No positive results were reported, and no conclusions could be drawn due to the small number of subjects. [21]

AWAreness during REsuscitation (AWARE) study

While at the University of Southampton, Parnia was the principal investigator of the AWARE Study, which was launched in 2008. [15] This study, which concluded in 2012, included 33 investigators across 15 medical centers in the UK, Austria and the USA and it tested consciousness, memories and awareness during cardiac arrest. The accuracy of claims of visual and auditory awareness were examined using specific tests. [22] One such test consisted of installing shelves, bearing a variety of images and facing the ceiling (hence not visible to hospital staff), in rooms where cardiac arrests were more likely to occur. [23] The results of the study were published in October 2014; both the launch and the study results were widely discussed in the media. [23] [24] [25]

A review article analysing the results reports that out of 2060 cardiac arrest events, 101 of 140 cardiac arrest survivors could complete the questionnaires. Of these 101 patients, 9% could be classified as near-death experiences. 2 more patients (2% of those completing the questionnaires) described "seeing and hearing actual events related to the period of cardiac arrest". These two patients' cardiac arrests did not occur in areas equipped with ceiling shelves, hence no images could be used to objectively test for visual awareness claims. One of the two patients was too sick and the accuracy of her recount could not be verified. For the second patient, it was possible to verify the accuracy of their experience and to show that paradoxically, awareness occurred some minutes after the heart stopped, at a time when "the brain ordinarily stops functioning and cortical activity becomes isoelectric." The experience was not compatible with an illusion, imaginary event or hallucination since visual (other than of ceiling shelves' images) and auditory awareness could be corroborated. [26]

Aware II study

As of May 2016, a posting at the UK Clinical Trials Gateway website describes plans for AWARE II, a two-year multicenter observational study of 900-1,500 patients experiencing cardiac arrest, with subjects being recruited as 1 August 2014 and a trial end date of 31 May 2017. [27] [28]

Brain/mind hypotheses

Parnia and others have suggested that a mind that is mediated by, but not produced by, the brain, is a possible way to explain NDE. [5] [29] [30]

Science writer Mike McRae (2014) suggests that "While Parnia's work contributes valuable data to understanding NDE as a cultural phenomenon, his speculations do indeed sit on the brink of pseudoscience." [31] Neurologist Michael O'Brien (2003) writes that "most people would not find it necessary to postulate such a separation between mind and brain to explain the events," and suggested that further research is likely to provide a physical explanation for near-death experiences". However, he does not define or quantify his notion of "most people", or whether "most people" would have the expertise to make valid judgement calls. [5] Psychologist and lecturer Susan Blackmore (2003) appeared with Parnia and Peter Fenwick on a BBC documentary called "The Day I Died" and disagreed with their interpretations of NDEs, finding purely physical explanations to be more plausible. [5]

In a review article published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, [32] Parnia admits that the nature of consciousness is still uncharted territory for science. Two different major models have been postulated about the nature of consciousness:

  1. one envisages the psyche/consciousness/mind (self) as the result of neuronal activity. So a causative relationship exists between cortical activity and consciousness.
  2. the other instead considers that consciousness is separate from the brain and can influence brain activity independently of the brain.

Parnia explains that the observations that "the human mind, consciousness, or psyche (self) may continue to function when brain function has ceased during the early period after death" (such as during the AWARE study, but not only) points to the possibility that the second model may have to be taken into account. [32]

See also

Selected bibliography

Books
Research publications
Reviews and editorials

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiac arrest</span> Sudden failure of heart beat

Cardiac arrest, also known as sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly circulate around the body and the blood flow to the brain and other organs is decreased. When the brain does not receive enough blood, this can cause a person to lose consciousness and brain cells can start to die due to lack of oxygen. Coma and persistent vegetative state may result from cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest is also identified by a lack of central pulses and abnormal or absent breathing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardiopulmonary resuscitation</span> Emergency procedure after sudden cardiac arrest

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation, or mouth to mouth in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest. It is recommended for those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing, for example, agonal respirations.

Clinical death is the medical term for cessation of blood circulation and breathing, the two criteria necessary to sustain the lives of human beings and of many other organisms. It occurs when the heart stops beating in a regular rhythm, a condition called cardiac arrest. The term is also sometimes used in resuscitation research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Out-of-body experience</span> Phenomenon in which the soul (astral body) is said to exit the physical body

An out-of-body experience is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world as if from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy, although this term is more commonly used to refer to the pathological condition of seeing a second self, or doppelgänger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advanced cardiac life support</span> Emergency medical care

Advanced cardiac life support, advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS) refers to a set of clinical guidelines established by the American Heart Association (AHA) for the urgent and emergent treatment of life-threatening cardiovascular conditions that will cause or have caused cardiac arrest, using advanced medical procedures, medications, and techniques. ACLS expands on Basic Life Support (BLS) by adding recommendations on additional medication and advanced procedure use to the CPR guidelines that are fundamental and efficacious in BLS. ACLS is practiced by advanced medical providers including physicians, some nurses and paramedics; these providers are usually required to hold certifications in ACLS care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Do not resuscitate</span> Legal order saying not to perform CPR if heart stops

A do-not-resuscitate order (DNR), also known as Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR), Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR), no code or allow natural death, is a medical order, written or oral depending on the jurisdiction, indicating that a person should not receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if that person's heart stops beating. Sometimes these decisions and the relevant documents also encompass decisions around other critical or life-prolonging medical interventions. The legal status and processes surrounding DNR orders vary in different polities. Most commonly, the order is placed by a physician based on a combination of medical judgement and patient involvement.

Near-death studies is a field of psychology and psychiatry that studies the physiology, phenomenology and after-effects of the near-death experience (NDE). The field was originally associated with a distinct group of North American researchers that followed up on the initial work of Raymond Moody, and who later established the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) and the Journal of Near-Death Studies. Since then the field has expanded, and now includes contributions from a wide range of researchers and commentators worldwide. Research on near-death experiences is mainly limited to the disciplines of medicine, psychology and psychiatry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ABC (medicine)</span> Mnemonic for Airway, Breathing, and Circulation

ABC and its variations are initialism mnemonics for essential steps used by both medical professionals and lay persons when dealing with a patient. In its original form it stands for Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. The protocol was originally developed as a memory aid for rescuers performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the most widely known use of the initialism is in the care of the unconscious or unresponsive patient, although it is also used as a reminder of the priorities for assessment and treatment of patients in many acute medical and trauma situations, from first-aid to hospital medical treatment. Airway, breathing, and circulation are all vital for life, and each is required, in that order, for the next to be effective: a viable Airway is necessary for Breathing to provide oxygenated blood for Circulation. Since its development, the mnemonic has been extended and modified to fit the different areas in which it is used, with different versions changing the meaning of letters or adding other letters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AutoPulse</span> Cardiopulmonary resuscitation device

The AutoPulse is an automated, portable, battery-powered cardiopulmonary resuscitation device created by Revivant and subsequently purchased and currently manufactured by ZOLL Medical Corporation. It is a chest compression device composed of a constricting band and half backboard that is intended to be used as an adjunct to CPR during advanced cardiac life support by professional health care providers. The AutoPulse uses a distributing band to deliver the chest compressions. In literature it is also known as LDB-CPR.

The history of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can be traced as far back as the literary works of ancient Egypt. However, it was not until the 18th century that credible reports of cardiopulmonary resuscitation began to appear in the medical literature.

Pam Reynolds Lowery, from Atlanta, Georgia, was an American singer-songwriter. In 1991, at the age of 35, she stated that she had a near-death experience (NDE) during a brain operation performed by Robert F. Spetzler at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Reynolds was under close medical monitoring during the entire operation. During part of the operation she had no brain-wave activity and no blood flowing in her brain, which rendered her clinically dead. She claimed to have made several observations during the procedure which medical personnel reported to be accurate.

Targeted temperature management (TTM) previously known as therapeutic hypothermia or protective hypothermia is an active treatment that tries to achieve and maintain a specific body temperature in a person for a specific duration of time in an effort to improve health outcomes during recovery after a period of stopped blood flow to the brain. This is done in an attempt to reduce the risk of tissue injury following lack of blood flow. Periods of poor blood flow may be due to cardiac arrest or the blockage of an artery by a clot as in the case of a stroke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Near-death experience</span> Personal experiences associated with death or impending death

A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death, which researchers describe as having similar characteristics. When positive, which the great majority are, such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, joy, the experience of absolute dissolution, review of major life events, the presence of a light, and seeing dead relatives. When negative, such experiences may include sensations of anguish, distress, a void, devastation, and seeing hellish imagery.

Lazarus syndrome, also known as autoresuscitation after failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, is the spontaneous return of a normal cardiac rhythm after failed attempts at resuscitation. It is also used to refer to the spontaneous return of cardiac activity after the patient has been pronounced dead. Its occurrence has been noted in medical literature at least 38 times since 1982. It takes its name from Lazarus who, according to the New Testament, was raised from the dead by Jesus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pim van Lommel</span> Dutch cardiologist (born 1943)

Pim van Lommel is a Dutch author and researcher in the field of near-death studies.

Peter Brooke Cadogan Fenwick is a neuropsychiatrist and neurophysiologist who is known for his studies of epilepsy and end-of-life phenomena.

GoodSAM is a global emergency and volunteer service platform and associated community co-founded by Mark Wilson OBE, Ali Ghorbangholi OBE and Ali Haddad in 2013. It is used by ambulance, police, fire, government, charity and health services to improve immediate emergency management, largely through video enabling Instant-On-Scene video assessment and from the platform's ability to alert trusted responders to provide immediate help. It is also the platform used to deploy nearly 800,000 NHS Volunteers across the UK to support those isolating or suffering with Covid

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Abella</span> American physician

Benjamin S. Abella is an American physician, emergency medicine practitioner, internist, academic and researcher. He is the William G. Baxt Professor and Vice Chair of Research at University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Emergency Medicine. He directs the Center for Resuscitation Science and the Penn Acute Research Collaboration at the University. He has participated in developing international CPR guidelines.

Post-cardiac arrest syndrome (PCAS) is an inflammatory state of pathophysiology that can occur after a patient is resuscitated from a cardiac arrest. While in a state of cardiac arrest, the body experiences a unique state of global ischemia. This ischemia results in the accumulation of metabolic waste which instigate the production of inflammatory mediators. If return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is achieved after CPR, then circulation resumes, resulting in global reperfusion and the subsequent distribution of the ischemia products throughout the body. While PCAS has a unique cause and consequences, it can ultimately be thought of as type of global ischemia-reperfusion injury. The damage, and therefore prognosis, of PCAS generally depends on the length of the patient's ischemic period; therefore the severity of PCAS is not uniform across different patients.

The Human Consciousness Project is a professional organization, located at the University of Southampton, set up to study the nature of consciousness, the human brain and clinical death. The project is multidisciplinary and involves scientists and physicians worldwide. Sam Parnia serves as director of the project.

References

  1. ↑ Adams, Tim (2013-04-06). "Sam Parnia – the man who could bring you back from the dead". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2016-09-26.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Adams, Tim (6 April 2013). "Sam Parnia – the man who could bring you back from the dead". Health: The Observer. The Guardian . Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 The State Education Department. The University of The State of New York. Report of the Committee on the Professions Regarding Licensing Petitions Albany, N.Y: October 2, 2012.
  4. ↑ Hampshire Chronicle staff.Southampton University Graduation List 2007 Part 1. Ceremony 10: School of Medicine; Doctor of Philosophy Hampshire Chronicle, published online 23 Jul 2007. Page accessed, June 7, 2016
  5. 1 2 3 4 O'Brien, M (2003). "The Day I Died". BMJ (Review of TV show). 326 (7383): 288. doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7383.288. PMC   1125151 .
  6. 1 2 3 Nour Foundation, Speaker Profile. Sam Parnia, MD, PhD, MRCP. Page accessed April 25, 2016
  7. ↑ Palchik Guillermo (2009). "Conference Report: The Nour Foundation Georgetown University & Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University Symposium Series Technology, Neuroscience & the Nature of Being: Considerations of Meaning, Morality and Transcendence Part I: The Paradox of Neurotechnology 8 May 2009". Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 4: 9. doi: 10.1186/1747-5341-4-9 . PMC   2717997 . PMID   19615065.
  8. ↑ Peikoff, Kira. CPR Survival Rates Can Differ Greatly by City. New York Times, published online 7 December 2015. Page accessed, May 18, 2016
  9. ↑ Strodtman, L. K. (2013). Parnia, Sam. Erasing death: the science that is rewriting the boundaries between life and death. CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 51(2), 302+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A347002140/AONE?u=wikipedia&sid=ebsco&xid=2e2556ab
  10. ↑ "Sam PARNIA | Director of Resuscitation Research | MD PhD | NYU Langone Medical Center, New York City | NYUMC | Department of Medicine | Research profile".
  11. 1 2 UK Charity Commission. 296655 - The International Association For Near-Death Studies UK Page accessed July 26, 2019
  12. ↑ "LUCID DYING | Kirkus Reviews" – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
  13. ↑ Lytton, Charlotte (August 26, 2024). "'I have been researching death for 30 years. I am now convinced it is reversible'" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Evers, Marco (29 July 2013). "Back from the dead: Resuscitation expert says end is reversible". Der Spiegel .
  15. 1 2 3 Stephey, M.J. (18 September 2008). "What happens when we die?". Time .
  16. ↑ "Doctor Sam Parnia Believes Resurrection Is A Medical Possibility". July 29, 2013 – via www.spiegel.de.
  17. ↑ "NPR interview". NPR .
  18. ↑ Gross, Terry (host); Parnia, Sam (20 February 2013). "'Erasing Death' Explores The Science Of Resuscitation". Fresh Air. NPR. WHYY-FM. Transcript.
  19. ↑ Paulson S, Becker LB, Parnia S, Mayer SA (2014). "Reversing Death NYAS 2014". Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1330: 4–18. doi:10.1111/nyas.12475. PMID   25060142. S2CID   206224394.
  20. ↑ French CC (2005). "Near-death experiences in cardiac arrest survivors". The Boundaries of Consciousness: Neurobiology and Neuropathology. Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 150. pp. 351–67. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(05)50025-6. ISBN   9780444518514. PMID   16186035.
  21. ↑ Parnia, Sam; Spearpoint, Ken; de Vos, Gabriele; Fenwick, Peter; Goldberg, Diana; Yang, Jie; Zhu, Jiawen; Baker, Katie; Killingback, Hayley (2014-12-01). "AWARE-AWAreness during REsuscitation-a prospective study". Resuscitation. 85 (12): 1799–1805. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2014.09.004. ISSN   1873-1570. PMID   25301715.
  22. 1 2 Lichfield, Gideon (April 2015). "The science of near-death experiences: Empirically investigating brushes with the afterlife". The Atlantic .
  23. ↑ Weintraub, Pamela (2 September 2014). "Seeing the light". Psychology Today .
  24. ↑ Robb, Alice (8 October 2014). "The Scientists Studying Life After Death Are Not Total Frauds". The New Republic .
  25. ↑ Parnia, Sam (2014-11-01). "Death and consciousness--an overview of the mental and cognitive experience of death". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1330: 75–93. doi:10.1111/nyas.12582. ISSN   1749-6632. PMID   25418460. S2CID   33091589.
  26. ↑ AWARE II Research Summary Archived 2017-08-16 at the Wayback Machine on Health Research Authority website
  27. ↑ UK Clinical Trials Gateway. Primary Trial ID Number 17129, entitled "AWARE II (AWAreness during REsuscitation) A Multi-Centre Observational Study of the Relationship between the Quality of Brain Resuscitation and Consciousness, Neurological, Functional and Cognitive Outcomes following Cardiac Arrest" Last updated May 3, 2016. Page archived May 9, 2016
  28. ↑ Sleutjes A, Moreira-Almeida A, Greyson B (Nov 2014). "Almost 40 years investigating near-death experiences: an overview of mainstream scientific journals". J Nerv Ment Dis. 202 (11): 833–6. doi:10.1097/NMD.0000000000000205. PMID   25357254. S2CID   16765929.
  29. ↑ Petre, Jonathan (22 October 2000). "Soul-searching doctors find life after death". The Telegraph. These people were having these experiences when we wouldn't expect them to happen, when the brain shouldn't be able to sustain lucid processes or allow them to form memories that would last. So it might hold an answer to the question of whether mind or consciousness is actually produced by the brain or whether the brain is a kind of intermediary for the mind, which exists independently.... I started off as a sceptic but, having weighed up all the evidence, I now think that there is something going on. Essentially, it comes back to the question of whether the mind or consciousness is produced from the brain. If we can prove that the mind is produced by the brain, I don't think there is anything after we die because essentially we are conscious beings. If, on the contrary, the brain is like an intermediary which manifests the mind, like a television will act as an intermediary to manifest waves in the air into a picture or a sound, we can show that the mind is still there after the brain is dead. And that is what I think these near-death experiences indicate
  30. ↑ McRae, Mike (9 October 2014). "Science On the Edge of Life". Skeptic.com.
  31. 1 2 Parnia, Sam (2014-11-01). "Death and consciousness––an overview of the mental and cognitive experience of death". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1330 (1): 75–93. doi:10.1111/nyas.12582. ISSN   1749-6632. PMID   25418460. S2CID   33091589.
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