People can be brought back to life, a UK-trained scientist has controversially claimed, insisting death is a “reversible state”.
Professor Sam Parnia outlines his highly unorthodox ideas in his new book, Lucid Dying, in which he argues that resurrection, far from being the stuff of science fiction, is both an objective and a genuine possibility.
Prof Parnia, who is an associate professor of medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, told The Telegraph: “What we believe about death is fundamentally wrong”
The academic, who studied at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London, has spent three decades researching the point at which life ends and death begins.
He insisted: “You can reverse death, and it’s not just a wish, it’s the reality.
“People used to think you could never go beyond the boundaries of flying, let alone going beyond the atmosphere of the Earth.
“And if you always believed that, then you’d never try.
“If we remove that social label that makes us think everything stops, and look at it objectively, it’s basically an injury process.”
Mr Parnia, who has a research lab at NYU Langone, insists he is completely serious, believing brains remain “salvageable for not only hours but possibly days of time”.
In one instance, brain cells retained full function 48 hours after they were removed from a person’s body despite the ice being used to preserve the organ melting thanks to a delayed DHL delivery.
Mr Parnia continued: “So that’s a whole game-changer.”
Part of his motivation appears to be personal, with the 52-year-old explaining: “I tell everyone, look, I’m going to have a cardiac arrest soon. And I’m appalled at the treatment I’m going to get. It’s atrocious what we have to go through when interventions are possible.
“If I have a heart attack and die tomorrow, why should I stay dead? That’s not necessary anymore.”
Mr Parnia further believes there is hope for people who are violently murdered.
He said: “You just need someone to go to the operating room, find where the laceration was, stitch it together, and put blood back into your body again.”
People who die young who are otherwise healthy “are all potentially salvageable”, he added.
Lucid Dying is published on Thursday.
