"If I have a heart attack and die tomorrow, why should I stay dead? That’s not necessary anymore."

In the future, the only thing certain in life may be taxes. Sam Parnia, associate professor of medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, believes death could one day join BlackBerry as a relic of the past.

As detailed in his new book, Lucid Dying, Parnia cites studies from the last five years that suggest human brains remain salvageable for days after death.

• In 2019, researchers at Yale University published a study detailing how decapitated pig brains had been revived up to 14 hours post-death (research the science world labeled “Frankenstein-style”).
• A 2022 study (also out of Yale) used technology to restore blood circulation and other cellular functions in pigs a full hour after their deaths.

Parnia’s death-defying methods (for now): Using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines (ECMOs), which take on the function of the heart and lungs when the body is unable to do so. Another method: Providing patients with a cocktail of drugs similar to those proven to preserve pig organs following CPR. Parnia believes his team is the only one of the world providing human patients with these drugs; in 2012, resuscitation rates following cardiac arrests at his hospital in New York were 33% (compared to a US average of 16%).

👀 Looking ahead… A few people have been revived from clinical death in the past (example). But Parnia doesn’t believe these need to be one-offs: “I have little doubt that, in the future, people who would be declared dead today will be routinely brought back to life.”