History Main / NearDeathExperience

* ''Series/TheSopranos'': After Tony is shot in the season 5 finale by a senile Uncle Junior, he goes into a coma where he dreams about being in another city when his wallet and ticket back home get stolen. Before he wakes up he's standing in front of a house party where a person he had killed offers to take his bag and tells him to come inside, but he's distracted from moving on by voices in the wind calling for him (his family in the hospital).

* Near-death experiences do happen in the real life. There have been proposed scientific explanations of them, both psychological and biological, but NDE proponents remain unconvinced.

* [=NDE=]s are often dismissed as hallucinations. According to NDE researcher Penny Sartori, there are indeed cases that may be similar to [=NDE=]s, but they are actually caused by medication and residual sensory input. For example, one of her patients described his NDE as purely hellish, as he experienced being roasted on a spit. In reality, the patient had a very low body temperature from surgery, and had to be heated up with a special heated blanket and turned from side to side due to the nature of his wounds. Other patient reported being on a ferry boat, as she was lying on a pressure-relieving mattress, which may indeed create a rocking sensation. Also, retrospectively, hallucinating patients usually realize their experience was not real, while NDE experiencers firmly believe it was real regardless of time passed.

** Rincewind undergoes a ''lot'' of these: As a result of all the implausible events he's been involved in, being [[CosmicPlaything Lady Luck's favourite game piece]], Rincewind's hourglass isn't so much an 'hourglass' as an 'MC Escher creation in glass'. Even ''Death'' is unsure when he'll die, and consequently, he shows up every so often to check up on matters when it looks like it ''might'' happen.
** He seems to be [[OnlyMostlyDead at least slightly dead]] during the course of the game ''Discworld II: Missing Presumed...'', having survived the explosion that tossed Death quite a ways and later commenting that if he stands still for too long, flies converge on him and he sees zooming star-fields (though considering the form the player's mouse pointer takes, this is more a case of BreakingTheFourthWall).
** Rincewind's seeming inability to just roll over and die is referenced and parodied by Death on one occasion, where Death remarks [[AC:Damn; I feel as if I've had another near-Rincewind experience]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Tony Stark has a few of these across the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse''. First in ''Film/IronMan'' which puts the shrapnel in his bloodstream, necessitating implanting the ARC Reactor that allows him to become Iron Man. Then again in ''Film/TheAvengers'' when [[spoiler: he flies through the wormhole that the Chitauri are pouring out of with the nuclear warhead that Fury’s superiors launched at New York, almost suffocating before freefalling back through the portal. Fortunately Hulk caught him on the other side.]]

* ''Film/LetThereBeLight2017'': Harkens undergoes one where he sees his dead son, which convinces him he's still alive and in heaven with God, bringing him back to his former faith.

* In Music/CypressHill's [[Music/BlackSundayAlbum "Lick A Shot"]], a bullet passes through B-Real's lung but he survives.

[[folder:Web Video]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' animated series had an entire episode revolving around this. Dilbert gets hit in the head in a gas station parking lot and winds up seeing the afterlife, which, much to his chagrin, turns out to be an office cubicle in the middle of a white void. He receives a second head injury near the climax of the episode, where he finds that ''Wally'' is now in a cubicle next to his (in accordance with the beliefs of the Wallyites, a cult who had established a religion based on Wally due to a series of events during the episode).

* Mac on ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' has a whole episode of this after being shot in "Near Death."

->''[[AC:"You see, you are having a near death experience, which inescapably means that I must undergo a near 'Vimes' experience. Don't mind me. Carry on with whatever you were doing. I have a book."]]''

A character almost dies, but is given a chance to or is forced to return. Often overlaps with ItIsNotYourTime and MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes. Sometimes overlaps with NearDeathClairvoyance. If the near-death is a near-suicide, may overlap with ItsAWonderfulPlot. To some extent TruthInTelevision, and heavily overlaps with DontFearTheReaper. Expect them to want to GoIntoTheLight.

Compare with SerendipitousSurvival, where a character avoids death by being elsewhere due to sheer luck, when under normal circumstances they would have died.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' '''loves''' this trope. The protagonist first narrowly escapes death as a child [[spoiler:when all of his clan except for him is slaughtered]], then again when [[spoiler:he technically does die, but Akiha gives him half of her life force so he can live (this experience is actually what gives him his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception)]], and for the entirety of the game he is almost a papers-width away from death. He can sense his own death so well it borders on precognition, allowing him to barely survive against some of the strongest beings in the world.

%% * Nanoha in the SnowMeansDeath FlashBack of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers''. Caused her to reassess her training regimen to so that her trainees won't end up in a similar situation.

* Happens to Mugen three times in ''Anime/SamuraiChamploo''. Each time it happens, he is shown floating in an empty white space surrounded by grim reaper like beings. And each time, he tells them that he's not ready to die, and that they can shove it.

* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'', [[spoiler:Okuyasu is seemingly killed during the final battle, only to return in BigDamnHeroes fashion. He explains that he had a dream where he saw [[GoIntoTheLight a bright light]] and met his dead brother Keicho and realized that he must have died. However Keicho, who'd always done the thinking for both of them, told Okuyasu that it was time for him to decide for himself what he was going to do; he decided to return to Morioh and help his friends, and woke up just in time to save Josuke.]]
* ''Manga/DragonQuestTheAdventureOfDai'' has a borderline example - Dai doesn't almost die, but he does dream of his dead parents with the usual tropes of happy and peaceful afterlife environment, but choosing to go back to fulfil his responsibilities.
* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': In the aftermath of Zenitsu’s winning bout against Kaigaku he has a vision of the river of death, Zenitsu sees his beloved master on the other side, Zenitsu apologizes for not being a good pupil and preventing his death, the master however cries tears of joy and tells Zenitsu he has always been his pride and joy, Zenitsu tries to cross the river to his master’s side but spider lilies bind his feet, preventing him from crossing over, symbolizing it’s not Zenitsu’s time just yet, he then gets reanimated back to life.

* Lampooned in ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'', where it happened to Opus, but made very little sense. (The guy who told him ItIsNotYourTime was famed high school principal Joe Clark, who "expelled" him to send him back to the living world, and reminded him to watch ''Film/LeanOnMe'', which had just been released.)

* DoubleSubverted in ''WesternAnimation/LittleAngelsTheBrightestChristmas''. When Daniel and Scout are in the path of a truck, Daniel escapes, but the dog is very nearly killed. It looks like they both survived, until it turns out that, somehow, the dog still died, and winds up in Heaven. The angels then send him back to Earth, as though nothing had ever happened.

* In ''Film/{{Hereafter}}'', Cecile De France plays a French reporter who is caught in a tsunami and suffers a near death experience, causing her to become obsessed with the afterlife.

** Rincewind also has more than his fair share of Near Death Experiences, though his first in the series is entirely accidental. He runs into Death in the middle of the street, much to their mutual surprise, as Death was expecting to see Rincewind in an hour or so halfway across the Disc. Death offers Rincewind a "very fast horse" to make the appointment, but Rincewind politely declines before hightailing it.

** He seems to be [[OnlyMostlyDead at least slightly dead]] during the course of the game ''Discword II: Missing Presumed...'', having survived the explosion that tossed Death quite a ways and later commenting that if he stands still for too long, flies converge on him and he sees zooming star-fields (though considering the form the player's mouse pointer takes, this is more a case of BreakingTheFourthWall).

* In ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'', the eponymous Curse can only be broken by a man "willing to lay down his life three times for the House of Chalion." This leaves poor Cazaril getting just-barely-not-killed twice (once in the backstory and [[TakingYouWithMe once performing death magic]]) so his soul is open enough on the third death that the gods can unmake the curse through him. Yes, he had to ''practice dying''. Strictly speaking only the third time is a real NearDeathExperience, where he gets a full glimpse of the gods' realm and the Lady of Spring gives him the choice whether to return to life or not.

** In the fifth-season episode "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari," Londo (naturally enough) had a NearDeathExperience in the wake of a near-fatal heart attack.

** The main character had one, when he had the infraction in his leg which caused his limp ("Three Stories"). Always the skeptic, he believes that it was just a hallucination.
** In the episode "97 Seconds," a patient had a near-death experience, which made him feel so good that he electrocutes himself to have another one. Intrigued, House also electrocutes himself, but pages Amber right before so he would be revived. He sees nothing. This doesn't make much sense, since House already had a near-death experience - or two, if you count his hallucinations in "No Reason." Wilson even tells this to him afterwards. [[spoiler: It's actually a symptom of his deteriorating mental stability, which comes to a head at the end of the season.]]

* In "Sea of Fire," ''Series/TheEqualizer'' takes a [[ScareEmStraight class of juvenile delinquents]] to speak to a former hitman about his near-death experience where he allegedly spent a brief moment in Hell (the sea of fire in the title). At the end of the episode Mickey Kostmeyer scoffs at the idea and asks [=McCall=] if he saw anything on an occasion when he flatlined after getting shot in Africa. The episode ends on [=McCall=]'s silent expression.

* Just when Mimi in ''Theatre/{{RENT}}'' seems to have died like her equivalent in ''Theatre/LaBoheme'', she suddenly revives, and claims she was heading toward a warm light when Angel, who died earlier in the show, appeared and told her to go back. In the ''Theatre/ForbiddenBroadway'' parody, Mimi's actress, Daphne Rubin-Vega, is dying but sent back by Lady Thiang from ''Theatre/TheKingAndI''.

* Alcatraz in ''VideoGame/Crysis2'' has more than his share of these. First at the beginning of the game when he’s mortally wounded by the Ceph gun ship that attacked the sub he was in, two more when he falls out of a helicopter and a VTOL, and finally after he corrupts the Ceph spores in an airborne Central Park and falls to the streets below. [[spoiler: Crysis 3 and the tie-in novel Crysis: Escalation reveals that the last one was more than a near death experience, as while the Nanosuit kept Alcatraz’s body alive, the trauma from the whole ordeal left him brain dead, allowing the suit’s personality record of Prophet, the special operator that gave Alcatraz the nanosuit before offing himself at the beginning of the game, to more or less possess Alcatraz’s body.]]
* The "plot" of VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution tracks "Healing Vision" and "Healing Vision: Angelic Mix" (if you have the background animation turned on) suggest near death experiences. In Angelic Mix you even hear an explicit flatline about halfway through the song (and the arrows freeze momentarily) and a ghostly angel fades into view.

* A variant in ''VideoGame/MurderedSoulSuspect'' has detective Ronan thrown out a fourth-story window while chasing a serial killer in the beginning of the game. When he sees his body lying on the street, he initially thinks he's dead, but notices some movement. He tries to return to his body, but it's unknown whether or not it would've worked, as the killer shows up and shoots him ''[[NoKillLikeOverkill seven times]]'' just to be safe.

* In ''Webcomic/PowerpuffGirlsDoujinshi'', [[spoiler:its made pretty clear that the only reason Blossom didn't die in the Mandark arc was because Angel!Dee Dee convinced [[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy Grim]] to hold off on claiming her for a few extra seconds...which were thankfully exactly long enough for Dexter to save her.]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheBeastLegion'' Xeus is almost killed at the hands of Dragos in Issue 04, before Brilight saves him.

** The killing of Gil, Tarvek and Agatha was the subject of the particularly lengthy ''Si Vales Valeo'' arc - it was necessary for all three to have near-death experiences to cure them of [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Hogfarb's Resplendent Immolation]].

* ''Series/TheCryOfMann'': Jouglat nearly died in the warr [[note]] spelling accurate [[/note]], shown in a flashback. He was badly injured and losing a lot of blood, and survived mostly thanks to Ghost Lady and his helpful callers.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Bart has one in "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" when he [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin gets hit by a car.]] In a weird variation, he goes to Hell, and ''the Devil'' is the one who tells him ItIsNotYourTime, saying he isn't supposed to be here until the Yankees win the World Series, which he claimed wouldn't happen for 100 years. (Or course, [[HilariousInHindsight it actually happened in 1996...]] Call customer support, Old Nick.)

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' animated series had an entire episode revolving around this. Dilbert gets hit in the head in a gas station parking lot and winds up seeing the afterlife, which, much to his chagrin, turns out to be an office cubicle in the middle of a white void. He recieves a second head injury near the climax of the episode, where he finds that ''Wally'' is now in a cubicle next to his (in accordance with the beliefs of the Wallyites, a cult who had established a religion based on Wally due to a series of events during the episode).

* Most studies attempt to replicate the sensation of NDE, rather than to study the processes ocurring during clinical death (a complicated thing to do, though).
* Most reported [=NDE=]s are positive and very similar (if not nearly identical) in nature. But some people experience a negative NDE. These negative NDE's may include the same events as a positive NDE, but perceived negatively (the light is blinding, the journey through the tunnel is nauseating, the person feels judged during life review etc.), void (perceived negatively, as many positive [=NDE=]s also include it) or even Hell (very rarely). Sometimes, negative [=NDE=]s eventually turns into a positive one. Such [=NDE=]s are often experienced after attempted suicide, for example.
* People, who experience a positive NDE (most cases) usually come back changed for the better, as their experience convinces them that afterlife exists and become more caring, less interested in material possessions etc.
* While there are many known cases, only a few have been well observed, with evidence that the brain was inactive during the "experience." One of them is Pam Reynolds. Watch here [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNbdUEqDB-k]] or here [[https://vimeo.com/25629985]]. If those statements by Pam and the scientists turn out to be true, then CessationOfExistence will be subverted for everyone who hadn't believed any afterlife existed, and averted for those who always believed an afterlife did. There are many cases of this "veridical perception", but, unfortunately, most of them are anecdotal and retrospective, and cannot therefore be truly confirmed. One way to potentially confirm them is to put hidden, unusual objects or other targets (unknown and invisible to both patients and staff) into rooms where [=NDE=]s are expected to happen. So far, there were very few studies (including AWARE) with such setup. They did not find any convincing case, mostly because only few people reported such an experience, usually in a room without any targets. But even if this is possible, finding and verifying a case will prove difficult, as most people will probably observe their lifeless body and ponder their situation, rather than look around for anything unusual.

* In ''Proof Of Heaven'' neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander recounts his own near-death experience and asserts, using his own experience as a brain specialist, how his physical brain simply could not have generated the "hyper-real" world that he experienced. In his own words, Eben's experience as a brain surgeon, his passive atheism, the detailed scans taken of his brain showing almost no activity, the hairs breadth he came to actual death, and his remarkable full recovery essentially made his the "perfect storm" of near-death experiences. Regardless of your personal beliefs, it's hard not to take his account seriously. However, his account and assertion is questioned by others.

* There are several sites, such as Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (see http://www.nderf.org ) and Near-Death.com (http://www.near-death.com, which are dedicated on near-death experiences and their research. One of the most well known organizations for research of NDE's (And also past life claims and psi phenomenons) is Division of Perceptual Studies on the University of Virginia.
* Many organized religions take near-death experiences very seriously as proof of their doctrine. Others may shun them or dismiss them as delusions or even Devil's tricks (as they believe you have to be of particular religion to actually get to heaven, and [=NDE=]s happen to everyone, including atheists). One thing critics point out is that the [=NDE=]s are contradictory in terms of religious imagery (e.g. people see imagery reflective of their religion or what is dominant where they live) so claiming this as proof of any one religion would be problematic at best. According to Sam Parnia, people are seeing the same things, and when inquired further about they experience, they usually admit they only assumed what they saw was their god or prophet, while atheists simply do not know exactly, only that they saw something or someone full of light, love etc.
* [=NDE=]s are often dismissed as hallucinations. According to NDE researcher Penny Sartori, there are indeed cases that may be similar to [=NDE=]s, but they are actually caused by medication and residual sensory input. For example, one of her patients described his NDE as purely hellish, as he experienced being roasted on a spit. In reality, the patient had a very low body temperature from surgery, and had to be heated up with a special heated blanket and turned from side to side due to the nature of his wounds. Other patient reported being on a ferry boat, as she was lying on pressure-relieving mattress, which may indeed create a rocking sensation. Also, retrospecively, hallucinating patients usually realize their experience was not real, while NDE experiencers firmly believe it was real regardless of time passed.

* Tony Stark has a few of these across the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse''. First in ''Film/IronMan'' which puts the shrapnel in his bloodstream, necessitating implanting the ARC Reactor that allows him to become Iron Man. Then again in ''Film/TheAvengers'' when [[spoiler: he flies through the wormhole that the Chitauri are pouring out of with the nuclear warhead that Fury’s superiors launched at New York, almost suffocating before freefalling back through the portal. Fortunately Thor caught him on the other side.]]

* Rocko's ''car'' has one of these in ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'', complete with encountering the Grim Tow Truck and meeting St. Peterbilt at the Pearly Garage Door.

* ''Manga/DaiNoDaibouken'' has a borderline example - Dai doesn't almost die, but he does dream of his dead parents with the usual tropes of happy and peaceful afterlife environment, but choosing to go back to fulfil his responsibilities.

** In a rare serious arc, Ryōga dies when the superhumanly-strong Lime crushes his windpipe. He finds himself in a field of flowers with a river in the distance, and his grandpa and grandma yelling, from the other side of the river, not to come closer. But when he hallucinates Akane happily saying goodbye to him, together with Ranma, Ryōga is [[BigNo shocked]] back to life, depressed enough to summon the [[KiAttacks Shishi Hokodan]] and crush Lime with it.

-->-- '''Death''' (to Commander Vimes), ''Discworld/{{Thud}}''

* Most reported NDE's are positive and very similar (if not nearly identical) in nature. But some people experience a negative NDE. These negative NDE's may include same events as positive NDE, but percieved negatively (The light is blinding, the journey through tunnel is nauseating, person feels judged during life review etc.), void (perceived negatively, as many positive NDE's also include it) or even Hell (very rarely). Sometimes, negative NDE eventually turns into a positive one. Such NDE's are often experienced after attempted suicide, for example.
* People, who experience positive NDE (most cases) usually come back changed for the better, as their experience convinces them that afterlife exists, and become more caring, less interested in material posessions etc.
* While there are many known cases, only a few have been well observed, with evidence that the brain was inactive during the "experience." One of them is Pam Reynolds. Watch here [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNbdUEqDB-k]] or here [[https://vimeo.com/25629985]]. If those statements by Pam and the scientists turn out to be true, then CessationOfExistence will be subverted for everyone who hadn't believed any afterlife existed, and averted for those who always believed an afterlife did. There are many cases of this "veridical perception", but, unfortunately, most of them are anecdotal and retrospective, and cannot therefore be truly confirmed. One way to potentially confirm them is to put hidden, unusual objects or other targets (unknown and invisible to both patients and staff) into rooms where NDE's are expected to happen. So far, there were very few studies (including AWARE) with such setup. They did not find any convincing case, mostly because only few people reported such an experience, usually in a room without any targets. But even if this is possible, finding and verifying a case will prove difficult, as most people will propably observe their lifeless body and ponder their situation, rather than look around for anything unusual. Plus, studies like these bring significant risk of being labeled as pseudoscience (or "complete nonsense") by mainstream scientific community, and therefore discrediting those who attempt to perform them.
* Those who believe that near-death experiences are purely the result of processes in the brain and not something else in nature will counter that we don't know at what moment they happened and that we shouldn't assume that it was while the patient had no brain activity, as well as that at times, there might actually be brain activity when none has been registered as the instrument used may have been able to measure only surface brain activity, although this would still change neuroscience, as concious activity is considered to be impossible without "surface brain activity".

* There is also the issue of whether those who have published accounts of their near-death experiences are telling the truth or are fabricating the stories with a hidden agenda. Or, more generously, that these [=NDEs=], while definitely ''seeming'' real, are actually hallucinations caused by oxygen loss and other things. Although it cannot be denied that those, who experience a (positive) NDE are also usually changed for the better.

* Many organized religions take near-death experiences very seriously as proof of their doctrine. Others may shun them or dismiss them as delusions or even Devil's tricks (as they believe you have to be of particular religion to actually get to heaven, and NDE's happen to everyone, including atheists). One thing critics point out is that the [=NDE=]s are contradictory in terms of religious imagery (e.g. people see imagery reflective of their religion or what is dominant where they live) so claiming this as proof of any one religion would be problematic at best. According to Sam Parnia, people are seeing the same things, and when inquired further about they experience, they usually admit they only assumed what they saw was their god or prophet, while atheists simply do not know exactly, only that they saw something or someone full of light, love etc.
* NDEs are often dismissed as hallucinations. According to NDE researcher Penny Sartori, there are indeed cases that may be similar to NDEs, but they are actually caused by medication and residual sensory input. For example, one of her patients described his NDE as purely hellish, as he experienced being roasted on a spit. In reality, the patient had a very low body temperature from surgery, and had to be heated up with a special heated blanket and turned from side to side due to the nature of his wounds. Other patient reported being on a ferry boat, as she was lying on pressure-relieving matress, which may indeed create a rocking sensation. Also, retrospecively, hallucinating patients usually realize their experience was not real, while NDE experiencers firmly believe it was real regardless of time passed.

* In the climax of ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}'', [[spoiler:Elsa was almost murdered by Hans when she believes Anna is dead, then Anna uses her last remaining energy to throw herself in front of Hans just before she freezes to ice. She is thawed minutes later, because this constitutes an ActOfTrueLove.]]
* Some of the [[Franchise/DisneyPrincess Disney Princesses]] have experienced a near-death experience themselves:
** [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Snow White]] was almost killed by the Huntsman, but he spared her life.
** Maleficent placed a death curse on [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Aurora]], but Merryweather altered it into a deep sleep.
** [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel]] almost drowned after being turned human by Ursula.
** [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]] was almost killed by wolves, and [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeastTheEnchantedChristmas later]] nearly drowned in icy water, but Beast rescued her.
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jasmine]] almost suffocated in a giant hourglass, but Aladdin freed her.
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} Mulan]] was slashed and wounded, but treated immediately.
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Rapunzel]] almost drowned when she and Flynn got trapped in a cave.
** [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} Merida]] was almost eaten by Mor'du, but Elinor protected her.

** In the fifth-season episode "The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari", Londo (naturally enough) had a NearDeathExperience in the wake of a near-fatal heart attack.

%% * Meredith on ''Series/GreysAnatomy''
%% * Buffy (repeatedly) on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''

%% * Fraser in ''Series/DueSouth'', in the season 4 episode "Dead Men Don't Throw Rice".

** In the episode "97 Seconds", a patient had a near-death experience, which made him feel so good that he electrocutes himself to have another one. Intrigued, House also electrocutes himself, but pages Amber right before so he would be revived. He sees nothing. This doesn't make much sense, since House already had a near-death experience - or two, if you count his hallucinations in "No Reason". Wilson even tells this to him afterwards. [[spoiler: It's actually a symptom of his deteriorating mental stability, which comes to a head at the end of the season.]]

* In the ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' episode "The End", Larry dies and goes to FluffyCloudHeaven, but after getting into a petty argument with his guide angels, he's sent back to his body.
* In "Sea of Fire", ''Series/TheEqualizer'' takes a [[ScareEmStraight class of juvenile delinquents]] to speak to a former hitman about his near-death experience where he allegedly spent a brief moment in Hell (the sea of fire in the title). At the end of the episode Mickey Kostmeyer scoffs at the idea and asks [=McCall=] if he saw anything on an occasion when he flatlined after getting shot in Africa. The episode ends on [=McCall=]'s silent expression.
* Mac on ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'' has a whole episode of this after being shot in 'Near Death'.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. PlayedForLaughs in "Revenging Angel". Crichton is in a coma and sees his world through the eyes of... WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes?

* ComicBook/TheJoker nearly dies at the end of the ''Last Laugh'' crossover. This is possibly the first time the reader is able to experience one of his numerous brushes with death with him.

* There are several sites, such as Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (see http://www.nderf.org ) and Near-Death.com (http://www.near-death.com, which are dedicated on near-death experiences and their research.
* Many organized religions take near-death experiences very seriously as proof of their doctrine. Others may shun them or dismiss them as delusions. One thing critics point out is that the [=NDE=]s are contradictory in terms of religious imagery (e.g. people see imagery reflective of their religion or what is dominant where they live) so claiming this as proof of any one religion would be problematic at best. According to Sam Parnia, people are seeing the same things, and when inquired further about they experience, they usually admit they only assumed what they saw was their god or prophet.

* NDEs are often dismissed as hallucinations. According to NDE researcher Penny Sartori, there are indeed cases that may be similar to NDEs, but they are actually caused by medication and residual sensory input. For example, one of her patients described his NDE as purely hellish, as he experienced being roasted on a spit. In reality, the patient had a very low body temperature from surgery, and had to be heated up with a special heated blanket and turned from side to side due to the nature of his wounds. Other patient reported being on a ferry boat, as she was lying on pressure-relieving matress, which may indeed create a rocking sensation.

* NDEs are often dismissed as hallucinations. According to NDE researcher Penny Sartori, there are indeed cases that may be similar to NDEs, but they are actually caused by medication and residual sensory input (according to her research, medication tends to heavily distort the experience and actually prevent a "true NDE"). For example, one of her patients described his NDE as purely hellish, as he experienced being roasted on a spit. In reality, the patient had a very low body temperature from surgery, and had to be heated up with a special heated blanket and turned from side to side due to the nature of his wounds. Other patient reported being on a ferry boat, as she was lying on pressure-relieving matress, which may indeed create a rocking sensation.

* While there are many known cases, only a few have been well observed, with evidence that the brain was inactive during the "experience." One of them is Pam Reynolds. Watch here [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNbdUEqDB-k]] or here [[https://vimeo.com/25629985]]. If those statements by Pam and the scientists turn out to be true, then CessationOfExistence will be subverted for everyone who hadn't believed any afterlife existed, and averted for those who always believed an afterlife did. There are many cases of this "veridical perception", but, unfortunately, most of them are anecdotal and retrospective, and cannot therefore be truly confirmed. One way to potentially confirm them is to put hidden, unusual objects or other targets (unknown and invisible to both patients and staff) into rooms where NDE's are expected to happen. So far, there were very few studies (including AWARE) with such setup. They did not find any convincing case, mostly because only few people reported such an experience, usually in a room without any targets. But even if this is possible, finding and verifying a case will prove difficult, as most people will propably observe their lifeless body and ponder their situation, rather than look around for anything unusual.