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Where do you go?

The Angels Of Death
By Dr. Danny Penman
The Daily Mail - UK
First published 2-17-7
4-9-8

Doctor Penny Sartori was barely halfway through her night shift at
Morriston Hospital in Swansea when one of her patients began behaving
in a most peculiar way.

Through the maze of equipment keeping Peter Holland alive, Dr Sartori
could see him slowly regaining consciousness and becoming increasingly
alert.

Peter was staring intently at the foot of his bed - and then started
talking to an invisible presence.

"He suddenly regained his energy," says Dr Sartori.

"He seemed to be having a conversation with someone we could not see.
After a while, a beautiful peaceful smile crossed his face and he
relaxed completely.

"When his family arrived, he told them that he'd been visited by his
sister in the night and that they'd had a long chat.

"The strange thing was, his sister had died the week before, but
nobody had dared tell him because they thought the shock might kill
him. There was absolutely no way he could have known about his
sister's death."

It was in that moment, says Dr Sartori, that she realised Peter was
going to die, no matter how much medical attention he received.

"When a patient says that they have been 'visited' by a dead loved
one, you know that their time has come," she says.

"It's commonly accepted by nurses and we see it quite a lot. Nurses
will tell each other that 'he's just had a visit so he'll be off
soon'."

Indeed, shortly afterwards, 75-year-old Peter Holland did die.

Such deathbed phenomena, of the type experienced by Mr Holland, are
surprisingly common.

According to recent research at King's College London, around 10 per
cent of the terminally ill or those caring for them report some kind
of mysterious, inexplicable event that gives them a glimpse of an
afterlife.

Patients may report visits from deceased loved ones or experience
visions of a heavenly realm.

While such deathbed phenomena are undoubtedly comforting for the dying
and their loved ones, could they really shed light on the vexed
question of whether there is life after death? It seems so.

Over the past few years, a growing number of scientists have begun
studying such events and have concluded that many of them defy all
rational understanding.

Professor Peter Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist at King's College London,
who leads the research team investigating the phenomena, says the
sheer number of reports he has examined makes for compelling evidence:
"One possible interpretation of the data is that there really is life
after death," he says, "while another would be that something
paranormal, such as Extra-sensory perception (ESP), is behind them."

So how exactly do these haunting experiences manifest themselves?

"Deathbed phenomena come in three forms," says Professor Fenwick.

"The dying can receive visits from dead loved ones or they may have
visions of lights and other worlds.

"They may experience strange coincidences such as receiving a visit
from a relative they did not know had died.

"Their loved ones and family may experience inexplicable events such
as clocks stopping or strange lights appearing around the patient.
Others have seen a translucent shape leave the body at the time of
death.

"You don't need a religion or a belief system to believe in these
phenomena; you just have to look at the data and make up your own
mind."

Of course it's easy to dismiss anecdotal cases like that of Peter
Holland, and the "visit" from his dead sister.

Sceptics argue that such apparitions result from a heady cocktail of a
patient's faulty memory, powerful painkillers and the desire to
believe in an afterlife at an intolerably stressful time.

Lewis Wolpert, Emeritus Professor of biology at University College
London, denounces deathbed phenomena as mere delusions.

"Such stories are the result of hallucinations, wishful thinking or
coincidence," he says.

"There is no evidence for God or life after death. I have no doubt
that it must be reassuring for those who believe in these things.

"On the whole, religious people do tend to be happier. I would love to
be religious and think that there was a heaven - but it simply doesn't
exist."

Doesn't exist? Or hasn't yet been scientifically proven?

For despite the scepticism of the atheists, there remain many deathbed
encounters that defy easy answers. And these are the cases that
Professor Fenwick's team are studying.

Linda Jacobs's experience is typical.

Her father was terminally ill at a Manchester hospital, but as the
family gathered around his bedside for what they believed was his last
night, he became increasingly alert.

"He kept saying 'move out of that smoke'," says Linda. "He then began
smiling and laughing as though he was meeting with people we could not
see.

"He then turned and looked at my mother and said 'your Mum is here!
What on earth is she doing here?'" But the figure wasn't really there,
for one very good reason. She had died earlier in the week, but the
family had decided to keep the news secret for fear of causing further
upset.

Moments later, Linda's father also passed away - with a smile on his
face.

What can account for such mysterious events Linda is convinced that it
provides evidence for an afterlife.

And her case is far from unique. The story of Kate Batchelor, a sheep
farmer in the Western Isles of Scotland, is equally puzzling. Her
brother died in hospital, and a friend was dispatched to tell her the
news.

When they reached the farmhouse, they were greeted by Kate, who said:
"I know why you've come. I heard him calling me. He was saying 'Kate,
Kate' as he passed over."

She even knew the exact time her brother had died.

Of course not all of the cases being studied by Professor Fenwick are
so dramatic.

Far more common are stories involving clocks or other household items
that suddenly began malfunctioning at the precise time that a person
passed away.

"One lady told me that all of the clocks in her house stopped working
at the time of her husband's death. They started again a week later,"
says Prof Fenwick.

Other cases have involved mobile phones, video recorders, and TVs that
all mysteriously ceased to function at the moment of a loved- one's
death, only to resurrect themselves shortly after. Pets, too, can
mysteriously fall ill or even die at the same time as their owner.

These, too, could be dismissed as mere coincidence. But far less easy
to rationalise are cases where people have witnessed the precise
moment of an individual's death, and have seen mysterious shapes
emerge from the body, or circle nearby.

For example, one acquaintance of Professor Fenwick's, a GP from New
Zealand, went to the aid of a golfer who suffered a sudden, and
overwhelming, heart attack.

"As he was going to help, he saw what he described as a white form
which seemed to rise and separate from the body," says Professor
Fenwick.

Even more dramatic was the case of Diane Smyth, from Harlow in Essex,
who recalls the time she sat with her elderly father as he died.

As she awoke in the darkened room, she noticed something strange
hovering above her father's body. As her eyes focused on the
mysterious shape, she couldn't help but notice "a flame licking the
top of the wall against the ceiling".

Diane says: "I saw a plume of smoke rising, like the vapour from a
snuffed-out candle. It was being thrown off by a single blade of
phosphorous light and was indescribably beautiful. It seemed to
express perfect love and peace.

"I eventually switched on the room light. The mysterious light
vanished and the room was the same as always on a November morning,
cold and cheerless, with no sound of breathing from Dad's bed. His
body was still warm."

Professor Fenwick hopes that research into these bizarre apparitions
will not merely offer insights into the paranormal but will help us
come to terms with the process of dying and of death.

He plans to produce a textbook for doctors and nurses caring for the
terminally ill. It will be the 21st century equivalent of the Ars
Moriendi, the 15th century classic on the art of dying, which
described how best to prepare for death.

A common thread runs through many of Professor Fenwick's case studies,
and he has now been able to build up a tentative picture of what he
believes happens in the hours before death.

Often the first thing that those close to death experience is the
realisation that there are friendly spirits in the room, who arrive
with the express purpose of carrying them to another realm. As the
patient becomes more aware of their presence, fear turns to happiness
and eventually bliss.

These spirits will often sit for hours comforting the dying person as
their body progressively shuts down and dies.

As part of this process, the spirits precipitate a review of your life
- including all of its failings - that enables a dying patient to
resolve any lingering conflicts with friends and loved ones.

It would appear that when this process is complete then death quickly
follows. It's almost as if, in the final moment of peace, the body
finally offers up the ghost.

So what advice can Professor Fenwick give us about preparing for
death?

He says: "You should be ready to die at a moment's notice. Those with
a clear conscience die well. Those who are angry or frustrated have a
much more difficult death." Just as there is a good way to live, it
seems there is also a good way to die.

=B7 If you have experienced a deathbed phenomenon please contact
Professor Fenwick on Peter_Fenwick@compuserve.com. Some names in this
article have been changed to preserve medical confidentiality.



Comments (5)

5 people have commented on this story so far. Tell us what you think
below.

Here's a sample of the latest comments published. You can click view
all to read all comments that readers have sent in.

As a nurse caring for the dying we regularly come across patients who
have experienced death bed visions and it's completely cross cultural,
across ages and religion.

This is such an important topic to discuss so people know it's okay if
they see a vision when they are dying.

- Susan, London, UK

This is nothing new, our family has countless stories of it. We have
almost known that someone's time was near through them speaking of
seeing the dead. Yet it isn't frightening somehow.
Also I knew when my dad died despite him being in hospital and me
being at home aged 6.
A neighbour of mine had a near death experience (I know it is true
because I was there) and she says she saw her ancestors but they told
her to go back as it wasn't time yet.
There is a lot more to the after life than we will ever know until we
get there.

- Amt, Lincs, UK

Last year my husband had terminal cancer, two days before his death
when my sister was sitting with him he looked towards the corner of
the room and clearly said " OK I'm coming". As he gradually slipped
away over the next two days and became incoherent he frequently looked
to that corner and was clearly talking to someone or something quite
animatedly. I have never really belived in life after death but after
these experiences I do. My husband died at 5am peacefully and I
believe he was met by someone to go to another place and that he was
content to go.

- Sally Jackson, Fai Oak Hampshire

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