Pam Reynolds case

Pam Reynolds reported to her physician that she was experiencing symptoms of dizziness, loss of speech and difficulty in moving parts of her body. Her physician referred her to a neurologist, and a CAT scan later revealed that Reynolds had a large aneurysm in her brain, close to the brain stem. Because of the difficult position of the aneurysm, Reynolds was predicted to have no chance of surviving surgery for its removal. As a last resort, Robert F. Spetzler, a neurosurgeon of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, decided that a rarely performed procedure, known as a deep hypothermic circulatory arrest or 'standstill operation', could improve Reynolds' chances of surviving surgical removal of the aneurysm. During this procedure, Reynolds' body temperature was lowered to 50 °F (10 °C), her breathing and heartbeat stopped, and the blood drained from her head. Her eyes were closed with tape and small ear plugs with speakers were placed in her ears. These speakers emitted audible clicks which were used to check the function of the brain stem to ensure that she had a flat electroencephalography (EEG)—indicating a non-responsive brain—before the operation proceeded. The operation was a success and Reynolds recovered completely. The total surgery lasted about seven hours with a few complications along the way.{{Cite news |title=Decoding The Mystery Of Near-Death Experiences |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104397005 |access-date=2021-05-26 |website=NPR.org |language=en}}

Reynolds reported that during the operation she heard a sound like a 'D' natural that seemed to pull her out of her body and allowed her to "float" above the operating room and watch the doctors perform the operation. Reynolds claims that during this time she felt "more aware than normal" and her vision was more focused and clearer than normal vision. She reported seeing the surgical "saw" but said it looked like an electric toothbrush, and this is in fact true. She said she could hear conversations between operating room staff, even though she had earphones in her ears which were making a loud clicking noise many times per second in order to monitor her brain function.{{cite book|author1=Edward F. Kelly|author2=Emily Williams Kelly|author3=Adam Crabtree|author4=Alan Gauld|author5=Michael Grosso|author6=Bruce Greyson|title=Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC|access-date=29 July 2013|year=2007|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-7425-4792-6|pages=392–393}}

At some point during the operation, she says she noticed a presence and was pulled towards a light. She says she began to discern figures in the light, including her grandmother, an uncle, other deceased relatives and people unknown to her. According to Reynolds, the longer she was there, the more she enjoyed it, but at some point she was reminded that she had to go back. She says her uncle brought her back to her body, but she did not want to go, so he pushed her in, and the sensation was like that of jumping into ice water.

Reynolds' NDE has been put forward as evidence supporting an afterlife by proponents such as cardiologist Michael Sabom in his book Light and Death. According to Sabom, Reynolds' experience occurred during a period in which her brain had completely ceased to function.{{cite book |last1=Michael Sabom |title=Light and Death: One Doctor's Fascinating Account of Near-Death Experiences |isbn=0-310-21992-2 |pages=43, 49 |date=1998 |publisher=Zondervan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xqAg4b71NLsC&q=Pam&pg=PA89}}

Critics say that the amount of time during which Reynolds was "flatlined" is generally misrepresented and suggest that her NDE occurred under general anaesthesia when the brain was still active, hours before Reynolds underwent hypothermic cardiac arrest.{{cite book |chapter=Neuroimaging and Spiritual Practice |first=Mario |last=Beauregard |editor-first=Lisa J. |editor-last=Miller |title=The Oxford Handbook of Psychology and Spirituality |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GcJpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA509 |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |isbn=978-0-19-997864-9 |pages=509–510}}{{Request quotation |date=July 2015}}{{cite journal |author=Keith Augustine |year=2007 |title=Does paranormal perception occur in near-death experiences? |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc799110/m2/1/high_res_d/vol25-no4-203.pdf |journal=Journal of Near-Death Studies |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=203–236, pages 217–218}}{{cite web |last1=Carroll |first1=Robert Todd |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary |url=http://www.skepdic.com/nde.html |website=www.skepdic.com |publisher=Robert Todd Carroll |access-date=2015-06-22}}

Anesthesiologist Gerald Woerlee analyzed the case, and concluded that Reynolds' ability to perceive events during her surgery was a result of "anesthesia awareness".{{cite book |author=Evan Thompson |title=Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_vpBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT371 |year=2014 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-53831-2 |pages=371–}}

According to the psychologist Chris French, who served as editor in chief of The Skeptic magazine:

Woerlee, an anesthesiologist with many years of clinical experience, has considered this case in detail and remains unconvinced of the need for a paranormal explanation... [He] draws attention to the fact that Reynolds could only give a report of her experience some time after she recovered from the anesthetic as she was still intubated when she regained consciousness. This would provide some opportunity for her to associate and elaborate upon the sensations she had experienced during the operation with her existing knowledge and expectations. The fact that she described the small pneumatic saw used in the operation also does not impress Woerlee. As he points out, the saw sounds like and, to some extent, looks like the pneumatic drills used by dentists.

In his large study on near-death experiences, Professor Sam Parnia's group, The Human Consciousness Project, in their AWARE-study identified one subject out of 101 cardiac arrest survivors, who "described details related to technical resuscitation equipment". None of the patients reported seeing the test design with upward facing images.Weintraub, Pamela. Seeing the light. Psychology Today, September 02, 2014, [http://www.psychologytoday.com www.psychologytoday.com], retrieved January 3, 2023Orlando, A. (2021). Death Defying. Discover, 42(6), 50–58.Olvera-Lopeza, Edgardo & Varona, Joseph. Editorial: “AWAREness during CPR: Be careful with what you say!” Resuscitation 85 (2014) A5–A6, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resuscitation.2014.09.023Robb, Alice. The Scientists Studying Life After Death Are Not Total Frauds. The New Republic, October 8, 2014, [http://www.newrepublic.com www.newrepublic.com], retrieved January 3, 2023Tassell-Matamua, Natasha A. & Lindsay, Nicole (2016) “I’m not afraid to die”: the loss of the fear of death after a near-death experience, Mortality, 21:1, 71-87, DOI: 10.1080/13576275.2015.1043252Rice, DT, Nudell, NG, Habrat, DA, Smith, JE and Ernest, EV. CPR induced consciousness: sedation protocols for this special population. British Paramedic Journal 2016, vol. 1(2) 24–29Lichfield, Gideon. The Science of Near-Death Experiences. Empirically investigating brushes with the afterlife. The Atlantic, April 2015, [http://www.theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com], retrieved January 9, 2023

BBC (Bristol) made a 1-hour documentary about the Pam Reynolds case titled The Day I Died.{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420573/|title = The Day I Died|website = IMDb}}

• 23 Minutes in Hell
• 90 Minutes in Heaven
• Eben Alexander
• Heaven is for Real
• Howard Storm, author of the book My Descent Into Death
• The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven

{{reflist}}

• French, Chris. (2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20141213023527/http://www-new1.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/subjects/psychology/French_NDE_and_the_Brain.pdf Near-Death Experiences and the Brain]. In Craig Murray. Psychological Scientific Perspectives on Out-of-Body and Near-Death Experiences. Nova Science Publishers. pp. 187–203. {{ISBN|978-1-60741-705-7}}
• Michael Sabom. (1998). Light and Death. Zondervan. {{ISBN|0-310-21992-2}}
• Woerlee, G. M. (2005). An Anaesthesiologist Examines the Pam Reynolds Story. Part. 1. Background Considerations. Skeptic (British version), 18.1 (in press).
• Woerlee, G. M. (2005). An Anaesthesiologist Examines the Pam Reynolds Story. Part 2. An Explanation. Skeptic (British version), 18.2 (in press).
• {{cite journal | author = Woerlee G. M. | year = 2011 | title = Could Pam Reynolds Hear? A New Investigation into the Possibility of Hearing During this Famous Near-Death Experience | journal = Journal of Near-Death Studies | volume = 30 | pages = 3–25 }}

{{Parapsychology}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Pam}}

Category:1956 births

Category:2010 deaths

Category:1991 in Arizona

Category:1990s in Phoenix, Arizona

Category:Near-death experiences

Category:People from Atlanta

Category:Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)