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Into Death and Back?

CAN a person who dies be brought back to life? Many news reports from around the world tell about its happening. The Toronto Star of February 20, 1976, carried this amazing heading:

“‘Dead’ 105 minutes doctors revive boy”

The Canadian newspaper explained:

“A 16-year-old boy who ‘died’ for 105 minutes three weeks ago now just wants to get back to school.

“Edward Milligan collapsed on a school snowshoeing expedition and had no heart beat, no pulse and did not breathe for at least 105 minutes. . . .

“Dr. Arnold Tweed, a specialist at [Selkirk General Hospital], said ‘it is the longest time we know of’ that a patient’s heart has stopped beating and the patient recovered without apparent brain damage.”

Less than a year later, on January 20, 1977, the New York Post carried an even more amazing report. The newspaper heading read:

“Longest Death: Revived After 4 Hours”

The report told about a 20-year-old Chippewa Indian woman, Jean Jawbone, who was found unconscious in a snowbank. She had been there for nearly two hours at temperatures as low as 33° F below zero (−36° C)! Her heart had stopped, and her body temperature was only 75° F (24° C), more than 23° F (13° C) below normal! The Post reported:

“The doctors applied non-stop heart massage, depressing the breastbone and squeezing the heart for two hours before they had any signs of life returning.

“A tube was inserted into her windpipe to pump air.

“Finally, they used a rare technique known as peritoneal dialysis—injecting a warm solution into the abdominal cavity.

“After the woman’s body temperature rose sufficiently, a defibrillator was used to give her heart an electrical jolt that established a regular beat.

“She regained consciousness, was able to talk, and ‘behaved just like a person coming out of anesthesia,’ [Dr. Brian] Pickering said.

“Yesterday, Miss Jawbone was ‘just waiting to go home.’”

Surely these are remarkable recoveries. And with the advent of modern medical techniques, recoveries like these are occurring with greater frequency. But they can raise intriguing questions, as noted in a headline of the San Diego Union of October 1, 1978:

“Case Poses Problem Of ‘Death’ In Texas”

The newspaper explained:

“Roger Ragland’s startling return to life after 12 hours of apparent clinical death has renewed debate over what constitutes death in Texas. . . .

“‘He had all the neurological signs of brain death,’ said Dr. James Lindley, who examined the youth in the Brackenridge Hospital emergency room.

“Physicians had received his family’s permission to use the teen-ager’s kidneys in a transplant, and put him on a respirator to continue blood and air circulation through body tissues. The family had notified a funeral home.

“The day after the accident, however, neurosurgeon Bryon Neely noticed movement in Ragland’s legs and then detected brain activity. . . .

“Texas now has no legal definition of death. Such legislation could be brought before the Legislature when it meets in January.”

Have these persons actually returned from the dead? Can they give the living some insights regarding the condition of those who have died? What really is death?