Lazarus syndrome
This isn't my religion but a great way to start out this Episode an this is in no way meant to be offensive to any one so with that said I'll get started.
This time of year a lot of people celebrate the birth of a man named Jesus who died for 3 days and then was resurrected and not only that but he was known to have resurrected a man named Lazarus who had been dead for 4 days.
But is this something that can really happen
A miracle or a Medical anomaly?
Lets discuss this Peculiar Occurrences
Welcome to Peculiar Occurrences I am your host Lilith Nova
(Intro)
1- A 27-year-old man in the UK collapsed after overdosing on heroin and cocaine. Paramedics gave him an injection, and he recovered enough to walk to the ambulance. He went into cardiac arrest in transit. After 25 minutes of resuscitation efforts, the patient was verbally declared dead. About a minute after resuscitation efforts ended, a nurse noticed a rhythm on the heart monitor and resuscitation was resumed. The patient recovered fully.
2- A 66-year-old man suffering from a suspected abdominal aneurysm suffered cardiac arrest and received chest compressions and defibrillation shocks for 17 minutes during treatment for his condition. Vital signs did not return; the patient was declared dead and resuscitation efforts ended. Ten minutes later, the surgeon felt a pulse. The aneurysm was successfully treated, and the patient fully recovered with no lasting physical or neurological problems.
3- According to a 2002 article in the journal Forensic Science International, a 65-year-old deaf Japanese male was found unconscious in the foster home he lived in. CPR was attempted on the scene by home staff, emergency medical personnel and also in the emergency department of the hospital and included appropriate medications and defibrillation. He was declared dead after attempted resuscitation. However, a policeman found the person moving in the mortuary after 20 minutes. The patient survived for 4 more days.
Judith Johnson, 61, went into cardiac arrest at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes, Delaware, United States, in May 2007. She was given "multiple medicines and synchronized shocks", but never regained a pulse. She was declared dead at 8:34 p.m. but was discovered in the morgue to be alive and breathing. She sued the medical center where it happened for damages due to physical and neurological problems stemming from the event.
A 45-year-old woman in Colombia was pronounced dead, as there were no vital signs showing she was alive. Later, a funeral worker noticed the woman moving and alerted his co-worker that the woman should go back to the hospital.
A 65-year-old man in Malaysia came back to life two-and-a-half hours after doctors at the Hospital, pronounced him dead. He died three weeks later.
Anthony Yahle, 37, in Bellbrook, Ohio, USA, was breathing abnormally at 4 a.m. on August 5th 2013, and could not be woken. After finding that Yahle had no pulse, first responders administered CPR and were able to retrieve a stable-enough heartbeat to transport him to the Emergency Room. Later that afternoon, he was pronounced dead after all efforts to resuscitate him failed. When his son arrived at the hospital to visit his supposed-to-be deceased father, he noticed a heartbeat on the monitor that was still attached to his father. Resuscitation efforts were resumed, and Yahle was successfully revived.
Walter Williams, 78, from Lexington, Mississippi, United States, was at home when his hospice nurse called a coroner who arrived and declared him dead at 9 p.m. on 26 February 2014. Once at a funeral home, he was found to be moving, possibly resuscitated by a defibrillator implanted in his chest. The next day he was well enough to be talking with family, but died fifteen days later.
I could go on and on for days of many cases of people dying and being brought back this very Peculiar Occurrence was even thought to have started the Legions of Vampires.
Doctors how ever call it. Lazarus syndrome
The Lazarus phenomenon, or Lazarus syndrome, is defined as a delayed return of spontaneous circulation or (ROSC) after CPR has ceased. In other words, patients who are pronounced dead after cardiac arrest and experience an sudden return of cardiac activity.
The syndrome is named after Lazarus of Bethany, who - according to the New Testament of the Bible - was brought back to life by Jesus Christ 4 days after his death.
Lazarus syndrome is the return of spontaneous circulation after CPR has been stopped.
Since 1982, when the Lazarus phenomenon was first described in medical literature, there have been at least 38 reported cases.
According to a 2007 report , in around 82 percent of Lazarus syndrome cases to date, ROSC occurred within 10 minutes of CPR being stopped, and around 45 percent of patients experienced good neurological recovery.
But while the low number of report cases might highlight the rarity of Lazarus syndrome, scientists believe that it is much more common than studies suggest.
"The Lazarus phenomenon is a grossly underreported event,"
"The reason for these can be attributed to the fact that in cases which people are pronounced dead which later turn out to have been alive can cause The professional expertise of the resuscitating doctor to be brought into question, not to mention the fact that such an event can lead to disrepute among colleagues."
Precisely what causes the Lazarus phenomenon remains unclear, but there are some theories.
What might cause Lazarus syndrome?
Some researchers suggest that the Lazarus phenomenon may be due to a pressure buildup in the chest caused by CPR. Once CPR is ceased, this pressure may gradually release and kick-start the heart back into action.
Another theory is the delayed action of medication used as a part of resuscitation efforts, such as adrenaline. They believe damaged veins could keep the medication from getting to the patants system properly then at times after death the veins start to swell open up and the medication is delivered.
Hyperkalemia - whereby blood levels of potassium are too high - is another proposed explanation for the Lazarus phenomenon, as it has been linked to delayed ROSC.
Because so few cases of Lazarus syndrome are reported, uncovering the exact mechanisms behind the condition is tricky.
But perhaps it is not what is bringing a patient back to life that we should be concerned about; maybe they were never deceased.
In a clinical setting, however, a declaration of death is not as certain as one might think.
In 2014 came a report of an 80-year-old woman who had been "frozen alive" in a hospital morgue after being wrongly pronounced dead.
In the same year, a New York Hospital came under fire after incorrectly declaring a woman as brain dead following a drug overdose. The woman awoke shortly after being taken to the operating room for organ harvesting.
Cases such as these beg the question, how is it even possible to mistakenly declare a person as dead?
There are two types of death: clinical death and biological death. Clinical death is defined as the absence of a pulse, heartbeat, and breathing, while biological death is defined as the absence of brain activity.
Looking at these definitions, you might assume that it would be easy to tell when a person is deceased - but in some cases, it is not so simple.
There are a number of medical conditions that can make an individual "appear" dead.
One such condition is hypothermia, whereby the body experiences a sudden, potentially fatal drop in temperature, normally caused by prolonged exposure to the cold.
Hypothermia can cause heartbeat and breathing to slow, to the point where it is almost undetectable. It is believed that hypothermia led to the mistaken death of a newborn baby in Canada in 2013.
The baby in question was born on a sidewalk in freezing cold temperatures. Doctors were unable to detect a pulse, and the baby was declared dead. Two hours later, the baby started moving.
Dr. Michael Klein, of the University of British Columbia in Canada, said that the baby's exposure to such cold temperatures may explain the situation. "The whole circulation would have stopped but the neurological condition of the child could be protected by the cold."
(As we learned in my cryogenics episode)
Some other conditions that could cause a doctor to think a patent is dead is something called Catalepsy and locked-in syndrome .
Catalepsy is characterized by a trance-like state, slowed breathing, reduced sensitivity, and complete immobility, which can last from minutes to weeks. The condition may arise as a symptom of neurological disorders such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.
and locked-in syndrome, a patient is aware of their surroundings, but they experience complete paralysis of voluntary muscles, with the exception of muscles that control eye movement.
(This one is terrifying to me)
In 2014, The Daily Mail reported on 39-year-old British woman Kate Allatt, who had locked-in syndrome.
Unaware of her condition, doctors declared her brain dead. Medics, family, and friends stood by her bedside and discussed whether or not to switch off her life support. Allatt heard everything, but she was unable to tell them that she was fully conscious.
"Locked-in syndrome is like being buried alive," said Allatt. "You can think, you can feel, you can hear, but you can not communicate absolutely nothing."
Lazarus syndrome is extremely rare, as is the possibility of being wrongly declared as deceased.
That said, the fact that such cases have even occurred has raised questions about death recognition and confirmation in a clinical setting.
Some researchers suggest that doctors should wait 10 minutes after CPR is stopped to see whether a patient's vital signs return. as that is the time frame in which delayed ROSC is most likely to occur.
But When it comes to organ donation, however, other researchers note that waiting as long as 10 minutes to see whether ROSC might occur could be detrimental.
Current guidelines recommend 2 to 5 minutes of observation after the heart has stopped beating before declaring death; the longer the blood flow to the organs is restricted, the less likely they are to be suitable for donation.
With this in mind, it is unlikely that protocols surrounding death confirmation will change anytime soon.
But healthcare professionals and researchers alike are in general agreement and claim that in this day and age, physicians have the expertise and medical equipment to effectively determine when a patient has passed.
So what do you think about this Peculiar Occurrences have you ever heard of Lazarus syndrome before? What do you think about it. Let me know down in the comments below
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