My Story!

Many people often ask me why I got involved in the study of near death experiences and mind and consciousness.

My interest goes back to when I was about 15 or 16 years old. At that time I was given a copy of the original book on peoples experiences when close to death. What was most striking for me was the similarity of all the experiences, and also the cases by many people who while in a coma had described being able to watch in detail what had happened to them from above.

After I entered medical school, I soon realised that the issue of life and death confronts most doctors on an almost daily basis, and although it is a very real part of their work, knowledge of what happens to the human mind still remains largely a philosophical concern rather than a scientific one. This view was further reinforced after I qualified and started practising and dealing with dying patients myself. I came to realise that we know very little about death, and our knowledge and beliefs tend to be based more on subjective personal opinions rather than verifiable reality. Nevertheless I could see that an objective verifiable form of this knowledge was vital, as we have to make decisions based upon it almost everyday.

Towards the end of my training at medical school, I had gone on an attachment to Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. One morning, after spending one hour speaking with one of my patients' that I had got to know quite well in the hospital, there was a cardiac arrest call. On arriving at the cardiac arrest scene and pulling the curtains aside, I saw a crowd of doctors, dressed in white frantically working around a man, who after closer examination, I realised was the same man that I had been speaking to an hour earlier. I watched as the doctors tried to resuscitate him in vain. A point came when I just knew that he had 'gone', and that it was pointless continuing with the efforts. I remember thinking to myself: "What happened to this thinking, conscious being that I was talking to an hour ago? Has he gone forever? Is he now annihilated, or has a part of him remained? Could he have been one of those who have been described as being able to watch the resuscitation attempts from above? Could his mind have remained in some form or was it lost with the death of his body? I really wanted to know, but the answers were not available. After I qualified I decided the best way to find the answer to these questions was to do the work myself. That way I would be sure, and then I could also make the results available to others. I met with Dr Peter Fenwick, a highly respected neuropsychiatrist and authority on the issue of mind and brain and 'near death experiences' (NDE) in London. Dr Fenwick had at that time just published a book on the subject of NDE, titled 'The Truth in the Light, which was a critical examination of over 300 cases selected from approximately 3000 that had been sent to him. Following a number of meetings over a one year period, we discussed the potential research possibilities and one year later in 1997, we started a pilot study on the coronary care, medical and emergency units of Southampton General Hospital. In the years that went by, I came to understand that contrary to my own beliefs, which had been shaped by conventional medical teachings, it would be very difficult and perhaps even impossible to find the answers to my questions with our current understanding of the mechanism of action of the brain, and therefore a wider science was necessary.

When the research started, I began receiving cases of near death experiences, which were sent to me from all over the country. These were sent by people who had wanted to share their experience with medical professionals, but had often found it difficult to find someone who could understand their experience. I have now received more than 500 such cases. Another interesting point that I came across after I started the research was that I realised that to my surprise many more people than I had ever imagined were interested in the subject. This included people of all backgrounds, fellow medical colleagues, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists (physical therapists) dietician's etc. It fact it seemed to be a subject that drew almost universal interest among people of all different backgrounds and I hope that the same interest will also be shared by those who read the book. Even now when I meet people in the hospital, I still get asked about how 'the research' is going!