Pushing Near-Death Experiences (II)

A second factor driving the rise in near-death experiences and their reporting during the 1960s and 1970s was the development of new reanimation techniques, which increased the number of people surviving critical events like heart attacks. The chapter also examines how the widely accepted redefinition of death as irreversible coma influenced near-death experiences and the surrounding discourse. This impact is evident in the work of Raymond Moody, who remained skeptical of the brain-death definition.

Study at a glance

Abstract

A second “push factor” for the increase of near-death experiences (and their reporting), emerging in the 1960s and 1970s, is the introduction of new reanimation techniques that increased the relative and absolute numbers of individuals surviving critical situations (such as heart attacks). In addition, the chapter discusses the impact of the broadly accepted new definition of death, namely, death as “irreversible coma.” This chapter demonstrates the impact of both, the innovation of reanimation measures and the brain-death discourse, on near-death experiences and near-death discourse—visible in the publications of Moody, who, for example, remained skeptical toward the definition of brain death.