NDEs: surgery
56 cases
Near-death experiences, told by the people who lived through them. Each one checked against the same five questions.
Surgery 13
United States, 1988
Al Sullivan
Al Sullivan had heart surgery. He says he saw his surgeon from above, moving his elbows as if trying to fly. Moving his elbows that way was a habit of the surgeon’s. On television, the surgeon said he could not explain how Sullivan saw the gesture under complete anesthesia.
United States, 1991
Pam Reynolds
Doctors stopped her heart to operate on her brain. She later said she had watched the operation from above. She talked about the saw they used and about what the doctors said about her groin. Some of what she described matches the surgical report.
California, 1997
Lucky Pettersen
At 4, Lucky came out of a coma and said his friend Big Gino had walked him back from heaven. Two weeks later, his family learned that Big Gino had died.
Nebraska, United States, 1963
Ken Leth
As a boy he was put to sleep with ether for surgery. He says spirits attacked him and that he saw the future in heaven. Starting in 2017, he said on the radio that Trump would be pushed out and that Trump would speak to a crowd.
Montreal, 2008
Patient J.S.
In 2008, a pregnant woman had surgery on her aorta in Montreal with her circulation stopped. She said that, with her eyes taped shut, she saw a nurse and some machines. According to the researchers, the surgeon confirmed it.
Nebraska, 2003
Colton Burpo
A boy who was almost 4 had surgery for a serious case of appendicitis. Months later he said he had been in heaven and had seen his parents during the operation.
Texas, 1994
Tricia Barker
She broke her back in a car crash. She says she left her body in the operating room and saw her stepfather get a candy bar in a hallway.
Mexico, 1998
David Rojas
David Rojas says he saw the doctors operating on him from above and recognized the surgeon. According to David, the surgeon told him there were two doctors, not the three David describes.
Chile, 2019
Ana Magallanes
Ana Magallanes says that while she was having open-heart surgery, she saw her friend on another floor with a doctor. According to Ana, her friend later told her it was a video call with Ana’s parents.
Los Angeles, 2010
Rajiv Parti
In 2010, Rajiv Parti, a chief anesthesiologist in California, had emergency surgery. He said he watched the operation from the ceiling, heard the anesthesiologist tell a joke, and saw his mother in New Delhi.
California (United States), 1991
Nancy
She went blind after a biopsy. She said she left her body and saw her partner and her son’s father standing still in the hallway. Her partner confirms they were there.
Seattle, United States, 1973
Betty Eadie
In 1973, alone in the hospital after an operation, Betty Eadie felt herself dying. She says she left her body and went to see her family. Her book reached number one on the New York Times best-seller list.
California, United States, 1987
John Davis
He says that in 1987 his heart stopped for seven minutes. He says a guide showed him the afterlife, with a library of soulmates and a planetarium with millions of worlds. At the end he heard: “There is no death.”
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