Pam Reynolds' NDE

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Pam Reynolds (stage name) from Atlanta, Georgia is an American singer-songwriter. In 1991, at the age of 35, she had a near-death experience (NDE) during a brain operation. Her NDE is one of the most notable and best documented in NDE research because of the unusual circumstances under which it happened. 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 left her clinically dead. She made several observations about the procedure which later were confirmed by medical personnel as surprisingly accurate.

Contents 1 Diagnosis and operation 2 NDE part 1 3 NDE part 2 4 Timeline 5 Critical 6 Books 7 Notes and references 8 External links

[edit] Diagnosis and operation

A cat scan revealed that Reynolds had a large artery aneurysm in her brain, close to the brain stem. Because of the difficult position of the aneurysm Dr. Robert Spetzler of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona decided that an unusual surgical procedure, hypothermic cardiac arrest, had to be performed. During this procedure, also known as standstill, her body temperature was lowered to 60 °F (16 °C), her breathing and heartbeat were stopped and the blood was drained from her head. Her eyes were closed with tape. Small ear plugs with speakers were plugged in her ears. These speakers emitted audible clicks which were used to check the function of the brain stem.

For a brief period in the middle of the procedure, she had a flat EEG, a non-responsive brain stem and no blood in her brain. The operation was a success and Reynolds recovered completely.

[edit] NDE part 1

During the operation but prior to her being put in cardiac arrest, Reynolds later reports hearing a sound like a natural 'D'. The sound seems to pull her out of her body. Then she is floating around in the operating room and watches the doctors performing the operation. She feels more aware than normal and her vision is more focused and clearer than normal vision. She makes several observations, for example:

• She notices the doctor using a drill to open her skull. It surprises her that it looks like an electric toothbrush, not like a saw as she expects. It is later confirmed that the drill used by the doctor was similar in appearance to an electric toothbrush.
• She hears a female voice say, "We have a problem. Her arteries are too small." It is later confirmed that the doctors first tried to connect the heart-lung machine to the right leg. But the arteries are too small so they switch to the left leg.

These examples appear to show that she was able to see and hear during the operation.

[edit] NDE part 2

At some point during the operation she notices a presence. Then she is pulled towards a light. As she gets closer the light becomes very bright. She begins to discern figures in the light, including her grandmother, an uncle, other deceased relatives and people unknown to her.

The longer she is there, the more she is enjoying it. But at some point in time she is reminded that she has to go back. Her uncle brings her back to her body. When she looks at her body she doesn't want to go back in. Her uncle tries to persuade her, but she keeps refusing. Then she sees her body making a jump (caused by the defibrillation to start up her heart). Her uncle gives her a push and she is back in her body.

[edit] Timeline

The following timeline is based on the book Light & Death from Michael Sabom. It shows that the total surgery lasted about 7 hours and the standstill took less than 1 hour. The events in the operating room that Reynolds was able to recall (the surgeon using a drill on her skull and a female voice saying her veins are too small) happened before the standstill. The entire part 1 of the NDE happened before the standstill. Part 2 of the NDE happened during and/or after the standstill.

The operation	The NDE
7:15 Reynolds is brought into the operating room, still awake.	-
Reynolds receives pentothal (the book actually says penthathol) through IV for general anesthesia.	-
Reynolds' body is lifted onto the operating table. Her eyes are taped shut. Small, molded speakers are inserted into her ears.	-
A thermister is placed deeply into her esophagus to measure core body temperature. EEG electrodes are taped to the head to record cerebral cortical brain activity.	-
8:40 Reynolds' entire body, except for her head and groin, is blanketed with sterile drapes.	-
Spetzler begins the surgery by opening the scalp and then carving out a section of the skull with a Midas Rex bone saw.	Reynolds' NDE begins. She hears a natural D. It feels like the sound pulls her out of her body. She looks down and sees several things in the operating room. She feels very aware and her vision is more focused and clearer than normal. She notices that her head is shaved in another way than she expected. She sees the 'saw thing' (bone saw). It looks like an electric toothbrush, has a dent or groove at the top where the saw connects to the handle and it has interchangeable blades which are placed in what looks like a socket wrench case. She hears the saw crank up, but doesn't see where it is being used on. It hums at a relatively high pitch and then suddenly goes 'Brrrrrrrr'.
Spetzler removes the bone flap from the skull. The operating microscope is swung into position over Reynolds' head. At the same time, a female cardiac surgeon locates the femoral artery and vein in Reynolds' right groin. These turn out to be too small to handle the large flow of blood from the heart-lung machine. Thus, the left femoral artery and vein are prepared for use.	Reynolds hears a female voice saying that her veins and arteries are very small.
Spetzler inspects the aneurysm with the operating microscope. He finds that it is very large indeed. He decides that hypothermic cardiac arrest (standstill) is necessary to complete the operation.
10:50 The heart-lung machine is connected to Reynolds' body. Her blood is cooled down.	-
11:00 Reynolds core temperature is about 75 °F (24 °C). The cardiac monitor (ECG) indicates cardiac malfunction.	-
11:05 Reynolds receives a massive dose of potassium chloride. Cardiac arrest is complete. Her brain waves become flat. The brain stem responds weaker and weaker to the clicks from the ear speakers.	-
11:20 Reynolds core temperature is about 60 °F (16 °C). The brain stem no longer responds to the clicks from the ear speakers. The brain is shut down.	-
11:25 The heart-lung machine is disconnected from Reynolds' body. The head of the operating table is lifted and the blood is drained from Reynolds' body.	Reynolds feels like she is being pulled, but not against her will. She is going on her own accord because she wants to go. She feels like going through a tunnel vortex. She comes into a bright light. She begins to discern several figures, including a grandmother and an uncle. They stop her from going further because else she would not be able to go back into her body.
The aneurysm is now deflated and Spetzler removes it. The heart-lung machine is turned back on and pumps warmed blood into Reynolds' body.	-
Reynolds' brain stem begins to respond again to the clicks from the ear speakers. Also, waves of electrical activity from her higher brain centers begin to appear on the EEG screen.	The deceased relatives seem to be feeding Reynolds, not with food but with something sparkly. She feels like being nurtured and made strong.
12:00 A problem arises as the heart monitor begins to register ventricular fibrillation. Efforts to correct this with additional warming are unsuccessful. Two defibrillator paddles are placed on Reynolds' chest and her heart is shocked two times. This solves the problem.	Reynolds' uncle takes her back through the end of the tunnel. She sees her body but doesn't want to go in. It looks dead and she is scared of it. Then her uncle pushes her. The tunnel seems to push her and her body seems to pull her. When she goes back into her body it feels like diving into a pool of ice water.
12:32 Reynolds body temperature is about 90 °F (32 °C) and the heart-lung machine is turned off. Her body is deinstrumented. Spetzler assistants take over the closing surgical duties and music in the background begins to play.	Reynolds regains consciousness and hears the song Hotel California being played.
14:10 Reynolds is taken to the recovery room. She is still intubated for respiration, but in stable condition.	-

[edit] Critical

Pam Reynolds' NDE is sometimes seen as evidence of the survival hypothesis. Critics have brought forward several points which attempt to refute this interpretation:

• When Reynolds heard someone say her veins were too small, medical personnel were apparently still connecting her to the heart-lung machine. At this point she was merely under general anesthesia (which can quite often fail to render a patient completely unconscious as well as causing dysphoric effects including confusion about ones position in their body).^[1] This appears to show that her supposed Near "Death" Experience began hours before she even "died," and indeed if the second part of the operation had been called off for some reason, many of the supposed "death" experiences would have happened even though all she was subjected to were anesthetic drugs.^[2]
• EEG monitoring is not 100% reliable. Sometimes the brain has activity that is not registered by the equipment.
• Ear plugs do not block all external sounds. People with ear plugs may still be able to hear sounds in their environment.^[3]
• She may have had the claimed experiences before or after the standstill, when she was merely under general anesthesia and the brain was still active.^[4]
• Proponents have generally misrepresented the amount of time which Reynolds was flatlined^[5]: the actual surgical timeline suggests that her brain stem activity was fully flatlined for a period of only five to six minutes at most^[6], and there is no evidence that she retained memories or experiences during this particular period, as opposed to the rest of the several-hours long surgery. Her experiences before and after the standstill could have felt coherent regardless: loss of consciousness would not necessarily have interrupted the hallucinations. Most people do not experience or remember "gaps" between being awake, dreams, and awaking again.^[7]

[edit] Books

• ISBN 0310219922 Light and Death by the founder of The Atlanta Study, Dr. Michael Sabom, about the case of Pam Reynolds and nearly 50 other cases.

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

Asserting the importance of this NDE:

• People Have NDEs While Brain Dead
• Beyond Brain Death by Pam Reynolds
• Additional Analysis of the Pam Reynolds Case
• Home page of Pam Reynolds

Doubting that the NDE happened during the standstill:

• Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences Section on Pam Reynolds
• Discussion about Pam Reynolds NDE on randi.org, including important quotes from Light and Death
• Pam Reynolds Near Death Experience