Today I received an email from Regina Khan who is Anita’s assistant. She has directed me to another video clip of a lecture that Anita gave which also includes the testimony of Dr Peter Ko, the doctor who examined all of her medical notes and verified her case. The video clip is approximately 20 minutes long – again this includes Anita’s very interesting and inspiring information about what she experienced and it also includes a clip of Dr Peter Ko speaking about her remarkable case. To view the clip visit Anita’s website, it’s the clip on the front page:
166 Responses to “Update on Anita Moorjani’s Case”
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About Penny
Dr Penny Sartori 
Hi, Penny
The link below is to her radio interview page and some of the relevant information is discussed with Peter Ko and another doctor on the 18 November 2006 Hong Kong interview.
http://anitamoorjani.com/?page_id=56
Thanks Tim, thats a big help. I’ll check it out myself later.
There is no Dr Peter Ko or any detail of other medical references can be found in her case . No one knows where is the hospital she was treated and where are the comments of those mentioned doctors.
Any info todate? I have been wondering too esp which hospital and names of doctors.
Hi Carol, I’ve just been sent a link to a clip on youtube which has Anita’s case towards the end.
If you scroll down to the heading A Remarkable Recovery….
you will see the section on Dr. Chan, Dr. Walker, Dr. Ko and the Hospital.
Hi Sandy, thank you for this link it is very helpful.
hodgkin’s lymphoma has a 90% survival rate even for end stage or stage 4. her recovery is not that remarkable. you can google or go to nih.gov for statistics on HL.
This is great. Its exactly the type of doctor-verified corroboration that is needed. Thanks for following up on this, Penny!
This is a very interesting case. Hopefully in the future there will be more cases like this which will help with our understanding of consciousness.
Such a fascinating case. I am confused however – she would have had tumors. Did they simply disappear by the time she woke up from her experience? In any case, a wonderful story and I’m surprised this case is not more generally known.
HI Tony, I’m not sure about tumours – I’ll see if I can find any more information on this. Yes, it is a very interesting case and I think Anita is doing a lot of public speaking on her experience and also her book comes out in March so I think it will probably become more well known over the coming months.
According to a recent interview I heard by her, the tumors began shrinking within 3 days and were completely gone by the end of 5 weeks.
this is a very curable disease and the treatments are excellent. with the treatments available many pts respond and their “tumors” actually lymph nodes shrink within days of treatment. bendamustine shrinks tumors overnight for B cell lymphomas. again, this is a VERY CURABLE cancer. this is not a remarkable cancer story.
Hi, Tony,
I’m pretty sure she said she had ‘open lesions the size of lemons’ which gradually began to shrink. I have seen a couple of photographs of her somewhere (can’t remember where) that show her stick thin. I don’t think there is really much doubt about how ill she was and it would appear that her experience gave her the belief that she would get better.
I did read somewhere the she was given chemo very close to the end of her life – at that point there wasn’t anything left to do. It seems like this case has more questions than answers in my mind. Its quite incredible to note that tumors can actually shrink without any intervention – perhaps she continued to receive chemo. I wish we could get more specifics on the recovery. As a side note, the book Irreducible Mind does discuss mind over body, such as placebo and nocebo. Beliefs that can very strongly effect the body. Given she strongly believed that she would be healed, its possible we see this play into it.
Hi Tony, you have very good points. During the acute stage of her illness (when Anita was admitted to intensive care) Anita would have been receiving full active treatment – whether she had any chemo during the acute phase is unlikely however she could have had more after. In fact I think I heard her say in one interview that she did agree to be treated in accordance with what the doctors suggested even though she knew she was cured.
Your point about how beliefs strongly affect the body is excellent. There is more and more research being published that supports this. As a result of her experience Anita knew in her own mind that she was cured – it didn’t matter what anyone else said or thought she knew.
The power of our thoughts is really interesting to me. When I worked as a nurse it was often very apparent as to how an illness progressed in patients with the same diagnosis. Those with a very pessimistic or depressed reaction to their illness often became sicker and didn’t do so well. Whereas those with a more optimistic and positive outlook often recovered quicker (or lived longer in those diagnosed with a terminal illness).
There is also the very interesting case of the ‘Miracle Man’ who features in the DVD ‘The Secret’ – following an accident where his light aircraft crashed he ended up in intensive care and was told he would be paralysed. In his mind he was determined that he was going to walk out of the hospital. He began visualising himself walking and he actually did walk out of the hospital.
In her interview I saw in you tube she said tumors dissapeared whitin day after she woke up its on youtube anita moorjani
I’m not speaking as an expert, but I have known many people that have had chemo therapy and it doesn’t seem to do much more than buy some extra time. A friend of mine (now deceased) wished he hadn’t had it at all because it made him feel so awful. I can’t believe that ‘chemo’ cured Anita Moorjani but who knows.
I have a copy of Anita’s book and even the doctors agreed that there was no way that chemotherapy could have eliminated the tumours so quickly. It was a merely matter of days before Anita came back from the point of death (with numerous lymphatic tumours the size of lemons) to a cancer-free state. A truly remarkable, and I believe, utterly genuine account of a modern-day miracle.
Many thanks for your comment Julie. Yes this is indeed a very exceptional case. I can’t wait to read the book.
Anita Moorjani Dying To Be Me.
I’m puzzled as to why a search of google news does not turn up anything on Anita’s story. And if she experienced such a miraculously fast turnaround, I’d think her case would appear in a medical journal (granted, her name would not be used). The fact that the only hit on google news is a link to her dotcom website looks suspicious–as if a public relations agent “managed” the hits. And to add to the remarks of a previous commenter, who pointed out the credibility problem of someone who stands to profit–the other side of that same coin is the gullibility factor of an audience that would truly like the story to be true (probably includes nearly all of us!).
Thank you for your comment and your points raised. I agree it is very important to question everything especially things with high media coverage and to consider all aspects of such reports.
Anita’s case being reported in a medical journal all depends on the doctor treating her or another doctor involved with the case to have the motivation to write it up and go through the publishing process. Not all such cases get written up and published. There may still be the possibility that Anita’s case will be written up and published in a medical journal in the future. (I have contacted Anita’s assistant to confirm if this is likely and will post an update when I get a response.)
Incidentally if you do a Google news search of Patient 10 in my study there is no result – nothing shows up. Patient 10 had a very interesting NDE and one of the after effects of his NDE was the inexplicable healing of a congenital abnormality. I know that everything that this man reported was correct because I was actually the nurse looking after him at the time he was deeply unconscious and his NDE occurred. This case has been written up as a 16 page article and has been published in The Journal of Near-Death Studies so not necessarily all such cases will get flagged up in a Google search.
(Sartori, P., Badham, P. and Fenwick, P. (2006) A Prospectively Studied Near-Death Experience with Corroborated Out-of-Body Perceptions and Unexplained Healing. Journal of Near-Death Studies, Volume 25, Number 2, Winter, 69-84.)
Dr Peter Ko, an oncologist from the US flew to Hong Kong and independently investigated Anita’s case. The fact that he verified her medical records and has been recorded speaking publicly (on the radio, in a public forum and on various internet broadcasts) about this would suggest that this case is very valid. Considering the many doctors I have worked with over the years I find it extremely unlikely that a doctor would risk his reputation about a case like this unless he was certain of what he had verified in her medical notes.
Yes there is always the possibility of the audience being gullible and wanting to believe this but unless we remain open minded about these things then we will never have the chance to learn from what others have already experienced. It is important to consider this case from all perspectives and what we make of Anita’s experience is entirely our own choice.
Many other people make lots of money from public speaking. Anita is highly driven and motivated to give up her time and travel far distances to give such talks (which can be very exhausting both physically and mentally) and her very uplifting and positive message has been very inspiring and helpful to many people – why shouldn’t she get paid for doing such work?
RESPONSE TO MY QUESTION TO ANITA’s ASSISTANT REGARDING THE PUBLICATION OF A SCIENTIFIC PAPER:
I know that Dr. Peter Ko has been in touch with numerous cancer specialist institutions in the US and I believe that he is still researching what happened to Anita. As far as a published paper – I haven’t heard of one yet.
Are you following Anita on Facebook. If you are, as soon as there is news of a scientific paper, we will be posting it there. At the same time, we will put that information up on the website and link to the paper if we are allowed to.
What you are saying or thinking, Henz, is the opinion that largely prevails. There is a kind of unspoken collective assumption that everything that happens in the world is all accounted for and understood by science. It just isn’t so. If you read the account of patient 10 from Penny’s study you will see that it is inexplicable and quite remarkable and there are many of these cases. Annita Moorjani’s NDE and her healing is perhaps even more remarkable because it was cancer but it is very hard to measure which is the strangest.
I SO agree. I think Ms. Moorjani is a fraud, based on my experience as an ER and Hospice nurse, and her implausible if not impossible accounts of her hospital experience (speaking with and endotracheal tube, to name the most glaring). She does a disservice to honest survivors of NDE’s and those seeking real information.
I was, incidentally, unable to find a Dr. Peter Ko, oncologist anywhere in the US, nor at UCSC.
Let’s be open-minded, but not vacuous.
You’re right Diane. I couldn’t find a doctor Peter Ko. I always look up the names of the doctors or scientists as I believe in NDE but I don’t appreciate cases where things don’t check out to be correct or verifiable.
Cheers,
Diana
Hi Diana, thanks for your comment. As you can see if you click the links below sent by Dr Foster, Dr Peter Ko does exist. I’m sure there will be more information to support Dr Ko’s existence in the National Geographic documentary as they have spent 2 months researching Anita’s case before making the documentary.
I agree. Compare Howard Storm’s NDE with Anita’s (fake) one. Hers is the opposite of what we read in sacred Scripture. Never did our Lord say “love yourself first.” He was always “others” oriented.
i am a hospice volunteer and in the oncology field. i have seen stage 4 lymphoma pts respond to their chemo (very gentle ones) and YES ANITA Hodgkin’s lymphoma can “disappear” and yes it does “go away” with the right treatment. i am not saying she is making up the near death experience but i do think she has embellished her cancer story quite a bit.
I agree this is a specious story. See my comment below, if it’s not screened by the moderator.
Hello Diane, I believe you are TOTALLY right! Anita story is a total fabrication. There is no doubt of that. NDE’s are real and she has a totally unbelievable story that is not to be believed. From her hospice experence description to her going to a different hosptial at the very end of her life (because it was suggested by doctor) Hospice does not work that way… There are no last minute efforts at the end of home hospice. Anita is a fraud. NDE’s are real, her is SO not.
Hi MR, you are correct – there are no last minute efforts at the end of home hospice, however, comfort measures are always in place. Also conditions can develop that are secondary to the palliative condition and these conditions may be treatable. Each patient is unique and treatment varies according to each patient.
It will be interesting to see if your opinions still stand after the National Geographic documentary is aired.
There is no reason her name would not be used if her case were published in a medical journal. Patients’ identities are protected as a matter of course if the patient does not give permission to use his or her name or other identifying details, but obviously, this woman has deliberately made her story very public, so there would be no reason to conceal her identity if her case were published.
I agree Penny. BTW, I am trying to get more familiar with another spontaneous healing case – Mellen Thomas Benedict had a brain tumor and had an NDE – left for dead for over an hour with vitals at 0. IF his case is true, it would be one more remarkable case that should be examined further. Incidentally, he also mentions how our thoughts influence our physical well being. Its an important notion that I have begun to take to heart.
HI Tony, yes Mellen Thomas Benedict’s case is also very fascinating. I came across it a few years ago and found it quite remarkable.
With regards to our thoughts influencing our feelings, I think Anita’s case highlights this very well. During her NDE she was convinced that she would recover when she returned to her body. She has never doubted this and remains in good health.
A very good book which describes why our thoughts can have such an influence is The Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton.
I really want to believe this. To know that there is such a wonderful place waiting for us after we pass on would help to make this life more tolerable. I just watched the interview on juicyliving and heard Anita say that her deceased father told her she couldn’t go any further or she wouldn’t be able to return to this world. But then when I went to Anita’s site and read her written account she said that it was her best friend who had died two years earler that had said this to her. Which is correct? It puts doubts into my mind. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but surely there is only one version of the story. I was swept up in the story and hoping that it was true, but was really jarred by the discrepancy. Again, no disrespect intended, but it does make me question the validity of her experience.
Sorry, I used my old email which doesn’t work. I have provided my current email address.
HI Sylvia,
I’m not sure which is true to be honest – maybe both her father and friend communicated that to her at different stages of the NDE. NDEs are very transcendental experiences and very often they are described as having no logical time sequence. The best way to find the answer to your question would be to contact Anita directly.
I SO agree. Franky, I think Ms. Moorjani is a fraud, based on my experience as an ER and Hospice nurse, and her implausible if not impossible accounts of her hospital experience (speaking with an endotracheal tube in place, to name the most glaring). She does a disservice to honest survivors of NDE’s and those seeking real information.
I was, incidentally, unable to find a Dr. Peter Ko, oncologist anywhere in the US, nor at UCSC.
Let’s be open-minded, but not vacuous.
HI Sylvia, I’m not sure which is true to be honest – maybe both her father and friend communicated that to her at different stages of the NDE. NDEs are very transcendental experiences and very often they are described as having no logical time sequence. The best way to find the answer to your question would be to contact Anita directly.
Sylvia such a discrepancy. It would be a good idea to ask her directly as she does respond to comments here http://anitamoorjani.com/. Its such an important case and it needs to stand the test of such scrutiny if we want to finally quell all of our doubts.
Hi Sylvia,
cc. Dr. Sartori.
I’m reading this book of such a wonderful experience as I write this note. Anita got this encourgement from both her father and her friend Soni. You can find this info on page 113. Tara.
Thank you for this Tara.
I am curious. I can not find any Dr. Peter Ko, Oncologist anywhere on the internet. I am thoroughly enjoying this book, and would love to see if anything was written by this doctor to offer a scientific side to this wonderful account.
Hi Arden, thanks for your comment. I’ve noticed that in the USA it is common to find information on medical doctors, however this isn’t the case in the UK. This is probably due to the difference in the medical systems. Maybe its the same in Hong Kong as it is in the UK and that information about him is not as readily available as it would be for a doctor in the USA – I’m not sure to be honest.
However, Dr Peter Ko has spoken with Anita at a conference which you can view if you go to Anita’s website. Yes, I too would love to see Anita’s written up and published in a medical journal, that would really reinforce the importance of this very interesting case.
Hi Dr. Penny. I guess I am confused because the book, and the online references say Dr. Peter Ko came from the US to study her case, in a few instances online it says from USC which is a very large institution–maybe I misunderstood? It is interesting, having a after life communication with my father the moments and months after he died almost 20 years ago that uses almost exact language that Anita does I still would love to see this validated–perhaps I should just revel in the fact that I had a direct communication with someone who I loved on the other side and there are many people who made it back to earth to validate that story for me.
Hi Arden, no you are quite right. I answered the last question in a rush. I’m not sure why there isn’t much information on Dr Peter Ko (I haven’t looked him up myself to be honest), it may be that because he is an oncologist as opposed to a surgeon that there is less information, I’m not sure.
I’m curious about your after death communication, if you’d like to share it with me privately you can email me on drpennysartori@yahoo.co.uk
I think we are brought up in a world which has taught us to discard any kinds of after death communication or NDE type experiences because they don’t fit into the materialist explanations of consciousness. I think that we are reaching a point where there is so much evidence and so many of these cases that there is no alternative but to explore different explanations for consciousness. Dr Pim van Lommel gave an excellent presentation on consciousness being non-local at the Bioethics conference. His presentation can be viewed on the following link:
http://www.btci.org/bioethics/2012/videos2012/default.html
Penny, there was an interesting case of a ineffective cancer treatment that showed the amazing powers of placebo. I’m curious if placebo played a role in Anita case – see a short blurb in scientific American mind magazine. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=placebo-effect-a-cure-in-the-mind placebo does show that somehow the mind influences or heals the body. Is this something we’ve achieve somehow through evolution? And if so how? Is the spirit, a se
Is the spirit a seperate entity with influences that we know little about? Fun to think about. I was wondering what you thought.
Ooh, thats a deep question. From what I’ve learned so far (and I’m learning all the time) I think our minds very powerfully influence everything in our lives. But how do we define mind? Some people may call it spirit, others would say mind is just the brain.
It’s a huge topic to consider with many deep, philosophical thoughts!
Hi Tony, your question is very timely. I’m currently writing a lecture about the placebo effect for the course I am currently teaching!
With regards to Anita’s case I think it was more a case of her completely changing her thought patterns. Her NDE appeared to give her great insight into her previous mind set and thoughts and it was as if she stepped outside of herself and was then able to see life from a completely different view point.
This highlights to me the great power of our minds – that applies to us all. We can all direct our thoughts in ways which will benefit our lives. There are some very interesting works by Judge Thomas Troward, Ernest Holmes and many more similar authors which look into The Science of Mind. I have been undertaking a course in metaphysical counselling for the past 5 years and it is teaching me a great deal about the power of our minds.
With regards to Anita’s case I think her radical change in her thought patterns that was instigated by her NDE has been very beneficial to her health. She KNEW that she was cured and never ever doubted it. She wasn’t just saying she was cured she felt it and never doubted it, it is such a remarkable and important case which highlights the power of our minds.
Yes that is interesting. If Anita knew she was healed then perhaps placebo played an effect. However in patient #10 was he surprised to see his hand had healed or did he have a similar conviction? Interesting topic, thank you for your replies!
With Patient 10 it was a little different. Yes, he was surprised at his hand but he didn’t seem to have the conviction that Anita did with regards to her healing. I think Patient 10 was more surprised than anything and very happy to have more use of his hand.
Hello,
Dr. Peter Ko is being quoted as stating that he is an oncologist with the University of Southern California, however, when I contact the USC Oncology Department they tell me that there is no Peter Ko with their department??
Hi Maria,
Thank you for your comment. This is very interesting. Maybe he no longer works there? Is there more than one University of Southern California with a few different departments? I’m not sure.
With all due respect, Dr. Sartori, I think you owe it to your audience, and to those with genuine NDE stories, to do more balanced research into this case.
I started reading this book with high expectations, as I am interested in NDE’s and a friend recommended it. Now, frankly, I believe Ms. Moorjani’s story is fraudulent, for MANY reasons. I do, however, believe in NDE’s, as actually researched by Raymond Moody, for instance.
My issues with Ms. Moorjani’s story:
She contradicts herself from site to site.
On her website, she states her lymphoma was initially staged at 1A; in the book, she states it was 2A.
On her website, she states “I did not feel any pain”, reports only profound fatigue and shortness of breath. She makes no mention of having a nurse caregiver at home, or of receiving morphine. In her book, she states (p. 56) “Because I was in pain all over and couldn’t sleep, the nurse administered morphine just before she left at the end of the day”.
In the website account, she says her husband “rushed me to the hospital”, with no mention of speaking to her doctor; there, in the ER, “an oncologist was called in”.
In the book, she states Danny called the doctor, who told him to “rush me to one of the largest and best-equipped hospitals in Hong Kong, where the doctor would have a team of specialists waiting for me”.
I can assure you that a call from a naturopath does not summon a team of specialists for a patient who is apparently actively dying. More likely, the ER physician would have referred such an ill patient to hospice. Oncologists rarely visit the Emergency Room, as their work is long range, not emergent (i.e. dealing with respiratory failure and organ failure). Multiple organ failure is generally a cue to speak with the family about the patient’s grave condition, NOT to initiate chemotherapy and tube feedings (not used in patients emergently placed on ventilators, in any case).
She repeatedly refers to “the doctors” coming into her room, giving her news, and insisting she stay for more tests when her cancer seemed to be gone. I can assure you, likewise, that multiple doctors do not make rounds together in the hospital to give news to a patient. One physician will discuss certain findings with the patient. Their workload does not permit them to travel in a herd to interact with a seemingly hopeless patient.
Her “quotes” of conversations she overheard between medical personnel are unlikely, verging on silly. Medical staff just do not talk that way. An ICU nurse trying to start an IV (p. 62) would not panic and say “Her veins are completely retracted! Oh, just look at her limbs! There’s no flesh on them. Her body hasn’t been absorbing nutrition for a while.” He would say, “I can’t find a vein; can somebody start looking on that side?”. More, NO patient would be admitted to ICU from ER without an IV in place.
On page 82, Ms. Moorjani states she insisted her NG tube be removed, and her doctor resisted, saying she wasn’t absorbing nutrients. Tube feeding would not affect absorption of nutrients. The doctor then relented, recommending she start with a diet of ice cream; clear liquids would be the actual first oral intake allowed.
Most preposterous, she then states (p. 82) that “the oxygen tube came out”. The only oxygen tube that would “come out” is an endotracheal (ET) tube, which is inserted through the mouth and into the trachea or “windpipe”. It’s impossible to eat or speak with an ET tube, yet Ms. Moorjani relates conversations she had in previous days about her feeding tube, and eating ice cream.
I could go on, but won’t. I will say that, as an ICU nurse, you must know these things.
NDE’s deserve attention and clear-eyed investigation. People who are sufficiently unethical as to invent NDE’s for profit do a disservice to us all. Let’s be open-minded, not fatuous.
Dear Diane, thank you for your very interesting comments. I am sorry that my posting has caused you such offence and anger and that you consider me to be vacuous and fatuous. As you can see, contrary to your suggestion that I may screen and moderate your comments, I have not altered any of your comments when I moderated them as the purpose of the blog is for the audience to raise very important points – which you have done.
My initial posting about Anita’s case was before her book had been published. The purpose of the blog is to alert the audience to current issues in the field of near-death research. Anita’s case had been highlighted to me by several of the blog’s followers. After viewing one of her interviews I was very interested by what she reported and felt it to be of interest to the followers of the blog as with the case of Dr Eben Alexander who I have also posted a comment about.
You make very valid points with regards to your criticisms of Anita’s reports however, this has been written in a mainstream book aimed at the general public. This has not been written up in a scientific way. It must also be taken into consideration that Anita may have had very little editorial control as when such books are written they are always changed subject to the editor’s beliefs as to what will make the book more appealing to a wide audience.
You make very valid comments about the various teams of doctors not being able to travel together ‘in a herd’ as their workload does not permit and that it is not usual practice for an oncologist to be present in the ER. However, it is possible for an oncologist to be called to the ER. It is also possible that Anita may have been transferred to the ICU from the ER without IV access. I have come across many cases where the patient was transferred quickly to ICU and IV access was gained on arrival usually via a central line as peripheral access was difficult as the patient was so shutdown.
With regards to your comment: ‘On page 82, Ms. Moorjani states she insisted her NG tube be removed, and her doctor resisted, saying she wasn’t absorbing nutrients. Tube feeding would not affect absorption of nutrients.’
The doctor may have had concerns about re-feeding syndrome as he could see she was so malnourished. In this case tube feeding would have been reduced then gradually built up.
With regards to your comment: ‘Most preposterous, she then states (p. 82) that “the oxygen tube came out”. The only oxygen tube that would “come out” is an endotracheal (ET) tube, which is inserted through the mouth and into the trachea or “windpipe”. It’s impossible to eat or speak with an ET tube, yet Ms. Moorjani relates conversations she had in previous days about her feeding tube, and eating ice cream.’
Anita does not actually state that she was intubated and I can’t see anywhere in the book where she claims to have been orally intubated. On page 61 she says ‘…oxygen was being pumped through my nose via a respirator.’ It is possible that this was nasal CPAP not full ventilation (via an endotracheal tube) in which case Anita would have been able to talk – although it would have been difficult for her to talk. Also Anita states that oxygen was being pumped through her nose so if she was intubated (and not treated with nasal CPAP) then she would have been nasally intubated therefore possible for her to eat a soft diet especially ice-cream.
There are many other things that many trained health care workers would pick up on and question but without reading Anita’s medical notes it is impossible to establish all of the facts of this case. It must also taken into consideration that this was written from Anita’s perspective and invariably the patient’s perception of actual events may be different to actual occurences.
For me, the interesting bit in Anita’s book was her heightened state of consciousness and deep subjective experience during that occurred during the time that she was close to death. What she reported is consistent with other NDE cases that I have come across and it has a great positive and uplifitng message. To fraudulently make up such a deep experience would suggest to me that Anita must have a very extensive knowledge of NDEs and studied them for some time. To also remember this experience in such detail and retell it multiple times in very public ways would suggest that if she is fraudulent than she has great confidence in being a trickster. The time spent in concocting such a story then rehearsing it so well would be extremely laborious and time consuming (especially when recovering from a life threatening illness) and I’m sure she could make far more money in many other ways. Indeed her job in the fashion industry was probably far more lucrative. If this case is fraudulent than I would have expected Anita to be far more precise with the medical details that you have indeed pointed out – anyone who is a trained healthcare worker will instantly pick up on these points that you have mentioned (along with a few other points). Further to that her testimony would involve a conspiracy between her family, her publishers and Wayne Dyer who wrote the foreword to her book.
As I have said, without reading Anita’s medical notes it is not possible to comment further. Her case is of interest and has a very positive message and has been inspiring to many people. However, whatever anyone thinks of her case is entirely their own personal choice.
One more thing, then I’ll stop. Honest.
There is no “Dr. Peter Ko, oncologist” in the US. The only reference I can find to him is in sites touting Anita Moorjani’s book and speaking engagements. This is not difficult to research – let’s not let our wish to believe overcome our ability for rational thought.
Again, I believe in NDE’s and the mystery of death, having worked for years as a hospice nurse. I don’t, however, believe it’s ethical to make up stories in order to profit from people’s hunger for information about death.
Diane,
Why don’t you contact Anita directly to air your grievances rather than attack her here? She’s a very approachable woman and very willing to answer questions. I suggest you look her up on facebook; I’m sure she will put your mind at rest.
Kindest regards,
Julie
Thank you for your comment Julie, it is a good suggestion. I would also recommend trying to contact Anita through her website as her team have been helpful in answering my questions.
I agree with you Nurse Diane. Formerly from the medical field, and an avid researcher of NDE’s, I do not find Ms. Moorjani’s account to be credible. IMO she does a disservice to genuine experiencers like Howard Storm.
I have read with great interest the comments on this blog regarding Anita Moorjani and her extraordinary NDE and recovery from end-stage lymphoma. I appreciate the civility and accuracy of many of the comments, especially those of Dr. Sartori and others.
I must say, however, that the scurrilous attack by Diane Miessler compels me to interject my own comments in this case since I have met Anita Moorjani personally and know her to be a person of enormous integrity. I find the ridiculous accusations of Diane Miessler to be offensive in the extreme and completely unfounded and unprofessional…not to mention libelous.
I have been a student and researcher of NDEs for over 30 years, ever since reading Raymond Moody’s ground-breaking book, Life After Life, in 1976. I have read literally thousands of NDE accounts and have worked closely with some of the top researchers in the field of NDE studies.
I first became aware of Anita’s experience reading her account on the Near Death Experience Research Foundation website in 2006, almost immediately after it was posted there by Dr. Jeffrey Long, one of the owners of the NDERF website. Despite Ms Miessler’s categorically defamatory declaration that “There is no ‘Dr. Peter Ko, oncologist’ in the US,” Dr. Long—who is also an oncologist—had a long phone conversation with Dr. Ko who took enormous interest in Anita’s case because of research he was doing on spontaneous remissions from cancer. Due to his interest, Dr. Ko flew to Hong Kong to meet Anita and talk with her personally about her story. Together with her, he went to the hospital where Anita was treated and studied her medical records there.
Upon his return from Hong Kong, after meticulously researching Anita’s records, Dr. Ko visited me at my home in California and we had a long and very pleasant discussion about her NDE and NDEs in general. I know for a fact that Dr. Ko exists. He also appears in the video made by the faculty of the Behavioral Sciences department at Hong Kong University where both Anita and Dr. Ko spoke, and discussed in detail his research into her case, going over her medical records and analyzing them for the faculty and students in attendance. This is a matter of public record. The fact that Ms Miessler couldn’t find anything on Dr. Ko with a Google search proves only that she fails to understand even the rudiments of basic research.
Further, following the discussion at Hong Kong University, Anita, Dr. Ko and her family physician, Dr. Brian Walker, were all interviewed together on the government radio station, RTHK, by Phil Whelan, a long-time morning host. This interview was followed by a feature article written by journalist Hazel Parry in Hong Kong’s leading English-language newspaper, “The South China Morning Post.” Anita’s oncologist, Dr. T. K. Chan—the attending specialist physician at the Hong Kong Sanatorium where Anita was taken in the final hours of her illness—was also interviewed for this same article and his comments can be read there by one and all.
All this information is…and has been…available on Anita’s website: http://www.anitamoorjani.com Anyone can readily verify this at any time. Had Ms Miessler bothered to do even a modicum of inquiry—rather than cast unfounded allegations of Dr. Ko’s non-existence or Anita’s lack of credibility and fraud—she could have saved herself the embarrassment of making such preposterous public claims.
It may be of interest to note that the National Geographic Channel, after an extensive investigation into Anita’s medical records and exhaustive interviews with the people concerned, flew to Hong Kong and filmed an hour-long documentary on her and her case, which will be aired internationally early next year.
In addition, Anita’s publisher, Hay House, vetted her story thoroughly before committing it to print because they understand that publishing unsubstantiated claims is not in their own professional or financial interest.
I should point out, too, that Anita did not go in pursuit of a publisher to get her story printed for profit, despite Meissler’s insinuations. Anita freely and gladly shared her story and very generously gave of her time for free, answering any and all questions for more 5 years on the NDERF forum before publishing a book was ever a reality. It was, in fact, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Hay House who approached her, and asked her to publish her story as they felt the world needed to hear what she had to say.
The fine details of Miessler’s accusations and misrepresentations are simply too extensive to go over entirely, but let me make a couple of observations regarding them:
If there are apparent discrepancies between the account Anita sent to the NDERF website and her book, it is because the NDERF account is a very brief summary of her experience written in one sitting after Anita’s experience , and is not the detailed chronicle found in her book. For example, Miessler finds it contradictory that the website account lists Anita’s condition as 1A, and her book lists it as 2A. After her initial posting to NDERF, while going over her medical records with Dr. Ko, she found that her condition was actually listed on her medical records as being between 1A and 2A.
The same sort of “discrepancies” uncovered by Miessler’s “crack research” —regarding her nurse caregiver at home, receiving morphine for pain, who rushed whom to hospital and who spoke to whom and when—are all the result of superficial comparisons between a brief overview of Anita’s story with the complete rendition found in her book. Trying to compare one with the other is ludicrous. All the basic and most important facts of her story are found in both accounts and are attested to by those who were present at the time. All the discussions that went on during Anita’s coma have all be verified, in fact and in essence, by family and doctors present during her illness. They know what went on and what was said. Ms Miessler does not. Her idle speculations and outrageous conclusions are simply her opinions of something she had absolutely no personal knowledge of and are of no value whatsoever.
Miessler tells us “I can assure you that a call from a naturopath does not summon a team of specialists for a patient who is apparently actively dying. More likely, the ER physician would have referred such an ill patient to hospice. ”
In the first place, Anita’s family physician, Dr. Brian Walker, was and is a licensed MD—a general practitioner—not a naturopath, and his call did indeed summon a team of specialists to care for Anita who was, in fact, actively dying.
Secondly, I have been a hospice volunteer for the past 11 years and I know for a fact that physicians do not refer patients to hospice unless it is the expressed wishes of the patient or of family members authorized to make such decisions. It would be unethical for a physician to refer anyone to hospice without such authorization. In Anita’s case, no one in her family ever thought of putting her on hospice because hospice simply wasn’t an option as far as they were concerned.
I think Dr. Sartori’s comments regarding Miessler’s other speculations re the medical details are adequate to the task of clearing up those so-called discrepancies, so no need to go into them further. Suffice it to say Anita is not a medical specialist and her story was never intended to address medical technicalities of what tube went where or what their official names are. Anita’s intent was to make public her personal memoir to help others who find themselves in near-death situations, not publish a technical journal. So for Miessler to label Anita’s account fraudulent and to cast aspersions on her integrity based on any lack of technical medical detail is dumfounding. Miessler has absolutely no basis for such a claim and has shown both a callous disregard for fact, and an irresponsible flirtation with libel. For such a fraud, as claimed by Miessler, to be perpetrated, a vast deception and/or a conspiracy of monumental proportions would have to have been concocted, requiring the collusion of Anita, her husband, her mother and brother, her family physician, the team at Hong Kong Sanatorium, Hong Kong University’s department of Behavioral Sciences, National Geographic, radio station RTHK, The South China Morning Post, NDERF, Dr. Jeffrey Long, Dr. Peter Ko, Dr. Wayne Dyer, her publishers at Hay House and all her friends and relative who were with her during her 4-year battle with cancer. To claim such fraudulence—with absolutely no substantiated evidence—is patently absurd. If Anita were the kind of person to settle this matter in court, I have no doubt that she would prevail, and Ms Miessler would be held accountable for her injurious accusations.
At this point, I think the honest thing for Miessler to do would be to issue a sincere public apology to Anita on this page, and to delete her offensive posts. Otherwise she leaves herself open not only to continued ridicule, but to legal proceedings as well.
Jerald Foster, PhD
Hi Dr Foster, thank you for taking the time to write such a lengthy comment and for clarifying many points for the followers of the blog. The information and details you have provided are very helpful and much appreciated.
I am very much looking forward to watching the National Geographic documentary which will be aired internationally early next year.
Hear, hear!
Hi Dr. Sartori–
I regret that I did not find your blog earlier so I could have addressed Miessler’s altogether fallacious and mean-spirited attack sooner.
For those living in the San Francisco-Monterey Bay area, Anita will be speaking this coming Friday evening, November 9th, 2012 at 7:00 PM at the Hyatt Regency Monterey, in Monterey, California. This is a charity event to benefit the Hospice Foundation of Monterey. Details can be found here:
http://anitamoorjani.com/events/am-monterey.htm
Please come see and listen to Anita in person. It will be clear to any and all that she is exactly who and what she presents herself to be.
Thanks for this information. If I lived closer I would love to attend the event.
What is Meissler is saying is well intended. even if she sounds hostile. We are all familiar with ‘extraordinary claims need..’. In this case, there is a need to seperate the basic, hard evidence that a terminally ill patients healed unexpectedly, from a report of her experiences. If it can be proved that Anita Moorjani was admitted with terminal cancer and left free of it, based on hospital records,it is enough. Hard evidence is needed only for this fact. After that, the details of what she experienced, or the way she reports it, is totally a different matter. I personally, would not feel inclined to examine the details of the scenes she believed she witnessed. In this case, the effect it had on her is more important. For that reason, it is important that there should not be any clouding of the basic facts – entry conditions as recorded, exit conditions as recorded.
Hi, thanks for your comment. I agree, it is important to have evidence for such claims and Anita must also be in agreeance with your point as she has agreed for her medical records to be scrutinised by Dr Peter Ko and also the researchers for National Geographic. I’m sure National Geographic will investigate this thoroughly and I am very much looking forward to the documentary on Anita’s fascinating NDE.
Since when did voicing an opinion equate to being mean-spirited? I’m interested in reading Ms. Miessler’s comments (as I have enjoyed reading the other comments) and am glad she didn’t feel inhibited in making them.
Hi Brian, thanks for your comment.
I Agree Brian. What’s wrong with questioning? Being told something happened means nothing without documented evidence in this get rich quick world. And before Foster jumps on me, I’m not accussing Anita of trying to get rich. Don’t take it personal.
Wonderful!
BTW…here’s a link to an article about Dr. Peter Ko. It’s an old University of Southern California article from 1998, but it establishes that Peter Ko does, in fact, exist…in case there was ever any doubt in anyone’s mind other than Diane Miessler:
http://china.usc.edu/(S(1cfhxuff0tsjkz55mqmo1u45)X(1)A(4Ckyk9f3zQEkAAAANmNmMjFlNmUtOTAwYi00MTlkLTgyMTgtODJkNGU0OWY0YTc17Rzb2zt4xJEeJEssiF9GW3P69wk1))/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=281&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Thank you so much for this, it is very helpful.
One only hopes that Diane Miessler will have the good grace to publish a full and frank apology here – and elsewhere if she has made similarly unkind and potentially damaging allegations.
yes, there was a surgeon there with that name in 1998. But they don’t list him now, nor do we know if this is the same person. Ko/Koh/Go/Goh is a very common Chinese and Korean name. sort of like Smith or Jones is in the USA.
Hi, if you have a look at Dr Jerald Foster’s comment which was posted on this blog on November 6th 2012 there is a comprehensive explanation about Dr Peter Ko.
Hi Penny– The link I sent above seems to be too long and gets broken. Please replace it with this one: http://tinyurl.com/7b9y7rw
Also, there is a good discussion on one of your other threads regarding Dr. Ko and comments by people who attended the session with him at Hong Kong University:
Thanks for these Jerald. I thought I’d seen Dr Peter Ko but didn’t get chance to go through all of the video clips that I viewed.
Is there any information related to the National Geographic film of Anita Moorjani’s experience? I couldn’t find any new information over the web. Hopefully someone here may know. It sounds interesting.
I haven’t been able to get any more information about the National Geographic documentary. If anyone who is following the blog knows more please keep us updated. I am looking forward to watching it.
According to Anita’s assistant, Regina, National Geographic contacted Anita in May of this year and the film crew was in Hong Kong filming in July after vetting her story for 2 months. It will be part of a series titled Paranatural, and will be part of (Season 2, Episode 6 “Life after Life”).
It will be aired on Nat Geo sometime around Jan/Feb 2013, according to their current schedule.
If I hear more about it, I will post it here.
BTW…with about 5 mins. of research, the following came up either as articles written about Dr. Peter Ko, articles he co-wrote with other physicians, or references to him as a practicing MD:
http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/3692.html
http://www2.telemedtoday.com/articles/telemedicinehongkong.shtml
http://www.annsurgoncol.org/journals/abstract.html?v=5&j=10434&i=1&a=BF02303767_10.1007_BF02303767&doi=
http://dreamhealer.wordpress.com/2007/01/29/seeking-the-white-crow-dr-peter-ko-md/
http://www.springerlink.com/content/m3011440774337u8/
http://www.drscore.com/California/Pathology/search/Peter-Ko_10443352.html
Your comments, Julie, are spot on and any truly honest person would do exactly as you suggest. I suspect, however, we needn’t hold our breath waiting for this to happen.
Thank you for the information on the National Geographic documentary and thanks for these links. All very helpful. As the links show – Dr Peter Ko definitely does exist.
the Dr. Peter Ko you link to is a pathologist. or is a person involved in telemedicine.(interesting that the article doesn’t identify him with his title of Doctor).
You missed the USC Dr Peter Ko who is an optometrist at USC.
So a Dr. Peter Ko exists, but it’s unclear if which one is involved in the case, and neither are oncologists.
Or is this “expert” the Dr. Peter Ko who is a GP in Kentucky, whose name pops up in Google.
Hi, if you have a look at Dr Jerald Foster’s comment which was posted on this blog on November 6th 2012 there is a comprehensive explanation about Dr Peter Ko.
Hi tioedong, I have copied and pasted and excerpt of Dr Jerald Foster’s comment from 6th November 2012 to clarify things:
‘Dr. Peter Ko, oncologist’ in the US,” Dr. Long—who is also an oncologist—had a long phone conversation with Dr. Ko who took enormous interest in Anita’s case because of research he was doing on spontaneous remissions from cancer. Due to his interest, Dr. Ko flew to Hong Kong to meet Anita and talk with her personally about her story. Together with her, he went to the hospital where Anita was treated and studied her medical records there.
Upon his return from Hong Kong, after meticulously researching Anita’s records, Dr. Ko visited me at my home in California and we had a long and very pleasant discussion about her NDE and NDEs in general. I know for a fact that Dr. Ko exists. He also appears in the video made by the faculty of the Behavioral Sciences department at Hong Kong University where both Anita and Dr. Ko spoke, and discussed in detail his research into her case, going over her medical records and analyzing them for the faculty and students in attendance. This is a matter of public record.
I am more confused now having looked at these links. They do not appear to refer to the same person. I did read Dr Foster’s 6 November comment about Dr Ko, and I found it quite helpful, but I also attempted to find Dr Ko using the Internet (as well as professional directories of oncologists, practicing physicians, and USC’s directory) and was unsuccessful in locating his current affiliation. It would be so helpful if Anita Moorjani or her publisher would just put this confusion to rest by providing Dr Ko’s current place of employment/professional affiliation.
This book has inspired so many people and has such a positive message. I don’t want to see that undermined by a lack of proper factual support. At a certain point we do just need to accept what someone says in support of her own story — absolutely. But it would be so easy to confirm a current professional affiliation, and not waste any more time.
I am eagerly awaiting the NG program. I haven’t seen anything about it other than on blogs — does anyone know when it’s going to air?
Thank you for a very well-done, inspiring Web site, Dr Sartori. I am a caregiver for my elderly grandfather and cared for my grandmother until her death three years ago. I have been a hospice volunteer since my early 20s. I thank you for the work that you have done and the work you continue to do.
Thank you for your comments Elizabeth, yes it would be helpful to have all of the facts. As you said, there is such a positive and inspiring message with Anita’s case. I’m sure many people have been helped and inspired by her talks and her book. I haven’t heard any more about the NG documentary but if I do hear more I’ll put a comment on the blog.
Your grandparents are very fortunate that you were and are able to care for them, it is such a privilege to be in such a position and I’m sure you have gained a lot too. From my own similar experience of caring for my grandparents I know it can be difficult and emotional at times but it is also a great gift to be in that position. The hospice patients are very lucky to have someone like you around them. Thank you for sharing that.
I think anyone who has ever met Anita or heard her speak, cannot fail to be touched by the gentleness and sincerity that emantes from her. I personally am grateful for Diane Meisslers comments in that that they have been addressed and responded to in an intelligent and informative way that has made Anita’s story even more credible and amazing.
Thank you for your comment. I have only seen Anita speak on video clips I have seen on the internet but the way she speaks with such conviction about her NDE is very similar to the many other people I have spoken to about their NDEs. Hopefully I will get the chance to meet Anita in person sometime in the future.
If I remember correctly, Anita was taken to the hospital from her home, and not from a hospice as MR asserts. I don’t know of anyone ever being taken to a hospice for emergency treatment, no matter what stage of life – well, certainly not here in the UK. Are things different in Hong Kong?
Hi Julie, from what I recall (from reading the book a few months ago) Anita was having palliative (hospice) care at home. Without reading her medical notes I can’t really comment further. All I can say is that I have nursed a few patients in ITU who were also palliative – although this is not common practice it does happen. Procedures may well be very different in Hong Kong.
Ah, yes. I understand. It’s just that I’d never quite thought of dying at home in terms of ‘home hospice’. That aside, here in the UK, my mother was being cared for at home by my sister and me when she was in the terminal stages of cancer. As the end came near and she was struggling to breathe, an ambulance was sent to take her to the local hospital. It would have seemed ridiculous to take her to a hospice, where facilities would have been fewer and far less advanced. Like Anita, my mother was in a dreadful state of discomfort at the end; not the kind of emergency scenario one would want to present at a hospice.
HI Julie, thanks for sharing this with the blog. It’s always very upsetting to see people in a state of discomfort and I agree, sometimes being treated in an acute setting such as A&E (ER) is in the best interest of the patient.
In response to Julie’s comment about “home hospice” — Julie, this might perhaps be a difference of word usage? Or perhaps a cultural difference? In the U.S., many people receive hospice services at home at the end of their lives, rather than being admitted to a hospice facility. All of the services are provided in the patients own home. “Home hospice” is a term you would find used here amongst people discussing end-of-life care.
For example, my grandmother was on hospice service for the very reason that she did *not* want to have to be admitted to the hospital, for any reason. She wanted to die at home, in her own bed. Many people here in the US receive hospice care in their own homes, as well as in designated hospice wards or facilities.
It wouldn’t have occurred to me that that could be confusing but I now see that it very well could be!
I do not remember seeing the word “hospice” used in Anita’s book at any time, although I certainly could have missed it. For anyone doubting the validity of her story simply based on her being taken to the hospital while receiving palliative care at home, I would say that sometimes when you are caring for someone you love, at home, things can become very frightening, very quickly. Even if you think you are “ready,” it can be confusing, scary, painful, guilt- and anxiety- producing, and chaotic to watch someone you love die, particularly if it is your first time witnessing a death. My grandmother was 87 when she died, I had been a hospice volunteer for many years, her death was relatively peaceful and expected, and still there were times that if it hadn’t been her express wish over the course of years, I might well have been tempted to call for an ambulance. (I’m so glad I didn’t — I just mean that it can feel overwhelming.) For a younger woman, with a family that very much wanted to save her? It makes sense to me that she wound up in the hospital!
Anyway — just wanted to provide some personal and linguistic context. I hope this is helpful to anyone confused on that point.
Thanks to all.
Thank you for this Elizabeth it is very helpful to hear your perspective on this.
the only doctor Peter Ko that pops up on a google search is a family practitioner from Kentucky, or other family practitioners in Flushing NY or Vancouver Canada.
However, there is an optomotrist in Beverly Hills California by that name.
USC does have a Dr David Ko, and a Dr Chester Koh, but neither are oncologists.
Hi, if you have a look at Dr Jerald Foster’s comment which was posted on this blog on November 6th 2012 there is a comprehensive explanation about Dr Peter Ko.
http://anitamoorjani.com/Audio/mixdown3.mp3 Please take a listen to this. Anita and Ko together in an interview. Thanks to Titus Rivas for pointing this out to me.
HI Tony, thank you so much for this. Say thank you to Titus too. This is very helpful.
Btw Titus and a colleague will have a paper published in a future issue of the Journal of Near Studies that will contain some news about dr. Lloyd Rudy’s amazing account of a patients veridical Nde. Looks like its going to be a fascinating issue.
Oh thats great, I look forward to reading it. Thanks for letting us know.
Here is a youtube link to the national geographic video of NDEs. The last one is of Anita Moorjani.
Hi Walt, thank you for this really interesting clip. It is very helpful. Anita’s case is towards the end.
Hi, Dr. Sartori, thanks for your blog. You are performing a public service. Although I believe in the sincerity of most NDE’ers in what they report, care should be taken in assessing the validity of these experiences. In reading about NDE experiences, I am dubious of the experiences of Mellen Thomas Benedict, having heard many of his public interviews and learning how unique his experience is compared to the thousands of reported cases. He was first brought to public attention by P. M. H. Atwater. This recommendation by Atwater is highly suspect, as the methods employed by Atwater in her researches are questionable…
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1IYHQHPPJBO3D/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R1IYHQHPPJBO3D
Diane Miessler is right to have her doubts, although I believe she is mistaken in her assessment of Anita. It is important to separate the wheat from the chaff, as cases that are falsehoods do disservice to the NDE community. It obscures the reality of the near death experience and the importance it has for mankind.
NDEs come under attack, because it may be difficult to verify whether they are experienced during a period of time when all cortical activity has ceased. If the NDEs occur when the brain is dead, it would be hard to pass off these experiences as hallucinations. This shakes the paradigm that consciousness arises solely from the brain. What is striking to me is the heightened perception of the NDE state. The experiences are so vivid that naively one would expect the senses to be dulled at a time when the entire health of the body is compromised and likely pumped up with drugs. Yet when NDE’ers are resuscitated they invariably believe that what they experience in this heightened state is real, even more real than the life they wake up to. What can account for this apparent anomaly?
As an aside, you may be interested to know that what Anita experienced is in accordance with the accounts of many Buddhist meditation masters over the centuries. In deep states of meditation and enlightenment experiences, the experience of being one with the universe, the non-linear nature of time, and the experience of past lives are common experiences. Also your surname ‘Sartori’ is the Japanese Zen Buddhist word for enlightenment. 🙂
Hi Walt, thanks for your comment. I agree it is important to be discerning. I also agree that people are entitled to their opinions which is why I published all of the comments I received. In fact when I posted the comment about Anita’s case I did not know a great deal about it and had no idea it would spark such debate – I just thought it was a very interesting example of a NDE. Several people had emailed me about her NDE and sent me links to various of her testimonies which is why I posted the comment as it is easier to reply on a blog than to individual emails.
NDEs do challenge the belief that consciousness arises from the brain. You’re absolutely correct that senses would be expected to be dulled when the health of the body is so severely compromised. During the 17 years that I worked as a nurse in intensive care I nursed thousands of patients who were recovering from unconsciousness and cardiac arrest – these patients are usually ‘dazed’ or disorientated for some hours or even days in some cases. Yet when Patient 10 and Patient 11 (who had the deepest NDEs in my study) regained full consciousness they were very forthright in describing a very clear and lucid experience that occurred while they were deeply unconscious. What they described was a heightened state of awareness that they both described as ‘realer than real’. At present there is no explanation for this from the perspective that consciousness arises from the brain. I therefore think we have to be open minded and explore other possibilities in order to further our understanding of consciousness.
I agree that Anita’s experience and meditation experiences are very similar – it seems they are both routes to experiencing deep altered states consciousness. Ha, I think I have a long way to go before reaching enlightenment!
Hi Dr. Sartori, another thing I find disturbing about some NDE debates is that the central issue concerning the reality of the NDE state is being blurred by the debate of whether NDEs are proof that there is life after death. This invokes a perception in the minds of skeptics, especially the atheistic ones, that religion is being promoted, and the skeptics will violently oppose NDEs at all cost, despite whatever merit studies supporting the reality of NDEs may have. This disagreement is a red herring. There may or may not be life after death. Whatever transcendent reality that both meditators and NDE’ers alike experience as ‘realer than real’, just cannot be scientifically tested until such time that science technolgies and methodologies have advanced to the point where these states can be reliably measured or inferred. Since life after death cannot be currently proven or disproven experimentally, why should this subject even be mentioned in the context of scientific studies. It just provokes an unending war between fundamentalist skeptics and fundamentalist religionists, with each of the warring camps cherry picking facts and medical hypotheses, however obscure, that seem to support their ideologies. Neither camp are able to look, whether consciously or subconsciously, at the NDE evidence with any objectivity and an open mind.
The central issue is whether or not an NDE can occur when the brain is shut down, as after a cardiac arrest. The current state of the science of consciousness may parallel the state of physics at the start of the 20th century. Physics at that time was thoroughly entrenched in Newtonian physics. However there were certain phenomena, like black body radiation and the photoelectric effect, that could not be explained by the existing theory. This paved the way for quantum physics, a theory that is so counter intuitive to normal everyday experience, that even now physicists are divided about how to interpret its meaning. Yet the weirdness of quantum physics makes possible the modern world of cell phones and computers. If it can be incontrovertibly established that NDEs do in fact occur when the brain has shut down, a phenomena that seems to be inferred by thousands of reported NDE cases, this will start a scientific revolution that will be the downfall of the hard core materialism that now pervades the medical sciences. Perhaps the AWARE study spearheaded by Dr. Sam Parnia to verify one aspect of the NDE experience, OBEs, may be the landmark experiment that starts the unravelling of materialism similar to how Max Planck’s introduction of the quanta and the experiments this idea engendered started the unravelling of Newtonian physics. Whatever new theory that replaces materialism will undoubtedly be counter intuitive to normal everyday experience, just as counter intuitive as quantum physics and speculative scientific theories such as string theory is today. But why should a disembodied consciousness be that surprising to anyone, given the discoveries of science since the Renaissance? Welcome to the start of the 21st century.
The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine. (J. B. S. Haldane)
Hi Walt, thanks for your really valid comment. I agree with regards to the NDE state being blurred with life after death. When I began my research, I wasn’t trying to prove or disprove an afterlife but unfortunately, some people seem to be under the misconception that this was the case. I undertook my research in order to have a greater insight into the process of death and dying so that care for patients who die in critical care areas can be enhanced. However, my research did open my eyes to how little we understand consciousness. Once I began studying consciousness I realised what a vast subject it is. The findings of my research really highlighted to me that our current explanations of consciousness being created by the brain seem far too limiting. In my research patients who had a cardiac arrest reported components of the NDE.
I think this is a very exciting time as it seems that our science is progressing and making new discoveries all the time. With more prospective studies of NDEs in hospital settings, such as the AWARE study, there should be more progress in years to come.
Hello Dr Penny Sartori! I was surprised reading this! You have my attention again! Many Thanks!
Hi Tsenne, thanks for your comment. There is a fuller explanation about how I became motivated to study NDEs in the introduction of my forthcoming book The Wisdom of NDEs: How learning about NDEs can help us live more fully.
It would be extremely simple to end this discussion: contact Mrs. Moorjani and ask about Dr. Peter Ko’s affiliation. Why keep asking, wondering, googling, looking and video clips and listening to radio interviews when all this does is add to the confusion. Would it not be to verify not only Dr. Peter Ko’s existence, but whether he is in fact a famous oncologist? This can only be done if we know his affiliation and can find his articles. Why not just do that?
Hi Emma, thanks for your comment. Yes, it would be easier for everyone to contact Anita directly – this can be done through her website.
Hi Emma, I couldn’t agree with you more about ending the discussion, if it were concerns about Dr. Ko’s existence but for different reasons. Whether or not Dr. Ko exists may not be all that relevant. I don’t think the Anita doubters are aware of how remarkable her case is. I’m not even referring to her NDE. Her case may be the only documented case of spontaneous remission from a stage 4 cancer. People may argue about her NDE until the cows come home, but that doesn’t take away from how unique and remarkable her case truly is even without it. See the previous comments by Dr. Foster. I don’t see why anyone should have any doubt’s that Anita is genuine. It would have to be a grand conspiracy for her case not to be true.
Hi Walt, thanks for your comment.
Dr. Satori, just curious. In all of the NDE accounts I have read about, the patients were convinced that what they experienced was real. Are there any accounts where an NDE’er believed it wasn’t real, but that he/she believed it was a dream or a hallucination? If a person were rational, one would think the person would know whether he was dreaming or having a hallucination.
Hi Walt, funnily enough I met a lady this week who had a NDE but was not convinced. I’m meeting with her again in the next few weeks to have more of a discussion about this. I have met two other women in the past who also did not think their NDE was anything more than some sort of hallucination – their experiences did not appear to be very deep i.e. did not have many of the components of the NDE. I wasn’t able to question them further to see what their backgrounds were etc.
I’ve also come across people who had both hallucinations and a NDE. Patient 10 in my hospital study had both and was clearly able to distinguish between them. He described the NDE as ‘realer than real’ and the hallucinations as very muddled. Also on long term follow up the NDE remained just as clear whereas the hallucinations were not so clearly recalled.
I left a message on Anita’s website about Peter Ko. Sandy Shriver, her executive assistant, replied with the same tired links that are already on this thread. I pointed out the inconsistencies-one describes him as a surgeon while another indicates he is a pathologist. In a very nice way, she replied that Anita is on a “writer’s break,” working on her next book and that Anita does not have time to respond. I feel that this is an important matter to resolve since many of us want to believe her story but are stymied by the Dr. Ko issue.
Hi Steve, I think Anita gets thousands of enquiries regarding this matter. Jerald has posted soem links in the comment below which may be of help (I haven’t had chance to check them out yet).
I thoroughly understand the nature of skepticism and those that wish to have a full and complete understanding from a scientific and medical viewpoint. Anita has had her experience scrutinized by many skeptics from the moment she first posted on the NDERF forum. She has been asked every question you can imagine about her medical records and her near death experience. Her medical records have been reviewed and scrutinized by medical doctors, such as Dr. Peter Ko and also by people like National Geographic International that did a full review before including Anita’s experience in their documentary.
You can not imagine the number of emails that we receive on a weekly basis and how impossible it is to meet all of those requests to the complete satisfaction of each person writing in. I wish to remind Steve that I did in fact pass along to him information on Dr. Ko in the hopes that it would satisfy his questions about Dr. Ko’s existence but I am not in the business of trying to convince anyone of anything. My business is to support Anita Moorjani and if she had put on the “do not disturb” button while working on her next book, then that is my responsibility to not disturb her with every question that comes through the website.
Anita’s medical records and the existence of Dr. Peter Ko are all fine to debate but I would like to remind everyone that just because her entire medical records are not posted on the internet for public consumption or dissection or that we do not supply everyone with Dr. Ko’s personal contact information or his career as a medical professional does not mean that they do not exist. “The absence of proof is not proof of absence.” Is it possible that a surgical oncologist might now be working as a pathologist or as a consultant related to his field of work? Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?
My thoughts, if someone is skeptical of Anita’s experience that is fine. Anita is not here to prove anything or to change anyone’s mind. She has a very clear vision of what she is doing and her hope that if her experience and messages can help one other person to live their life fearlessly and to love themselves just as they are… then she is happy with her work.
I know one thing for certain. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and you can not convince someone of something that they do not wish to believe.
Blessings on your journey!
Dear Sandy,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this comment. It is a great help and I’m sure it clarifies things very well for people who have commented.
One thing that I think a lot of people have overlooked (I have briefly mentioned this in a previous reply to a comment) about Anita’s case is Anita’s physical condition since her NDE. As Anita has stated in her book, her family had been warned of the gravity of her situation and how unlikely it was that she would survive her illness and that it seemed that her death was imminent and that her brother had even flown to Hong Kong to be at her bedside. From my experience of working as a nurse in intensive care, the doctors are always as honest as possible with the family so they would not have said how grave Anita’s condition was to her family without good reason.
Through my NDE research I have come across other cases of people who have written to me who have also experienced an NDE and recovered from life threatening circumstances similar to Anita’s and made a recovery – although their experiences weren’t quite as deep as Anita’s NDE.
I have not read Anita’s medical notes and I have no wish to. However, one thing that is quite apparent with Anita’s case is when I have seen photographs of her on the internet prior to her NDE (maybe some months prior) it is obvious that she was quite unwell at the time – for example she looks very pale and thin, she is wearing is a head scarf in one photograph which I suspect may be due to hair loss which was a side effect of her treatment. However, to look at Anita now she is the picture of good health and looks so radiant in the talks I have seen her give over the internet. It is a few years since Anita’s NDE and her lymphoma appears to have gone. The insights that Anita gained during her NDE have influenced how she has lived her life since her recovery which is in keeping with many other NDErs I have spoken to and interviewed.
NDEs are a highly complex phenomenon and the predominant view about them has been one of skepticism. However, now that more research is being undertaken into NDEs, it is no longer possible to dismiss them or explain them away.
I have come across so many people through the course of my research (both hospital research and from people who have written to me) who are so overwhelmed by their NDE that they just want to share their experience with everyone. They feel so empowered and uplifted by their NDE that they want everyone to feel like that too (- is that a bad thing???). This is what Anita is doing – she is sharing her message with others and what a lovely message she has to share. Thank you Anita!
Hi Penny–
There is a new, 3 part video of Dr. Ko presenting his research of Anita’s medical records to a group of several hundred people at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University on November 25, 2006.
For those interested in the medical particulars of her case, this might be a very interesting video to watch:
[video src="http://anitamoorjani.com/Video/WMMS-Tape01.m4v" /]
[video src="http://anitamoorjani.com/Video/WMMS-Tape02.m4v" /]
[video src="http://anitamoorjani.com/Video/WMMS-Tape03.m4v" /]
Hi Jerald, thank you for these links, they are a big help.
On Dr. Foster’s first link, Dr. Ko is introduced as an “oncology consultant.” The speaker also says he has training in surgery and pathology. According to on line records, there is a record of a Peter Ko(surgeon) living in Pasadena Ca as well as a Peter Ko(pathologist) residing in the same area. One of the sites indicates he is no longer practicing. So I wonder if there really is a legitimate dual specialty trained retired Peter Ko who simply never should have been labeled as an oncologist in the first place.
red Peter Ko who is incorrectly referred to as an oncologist.
Hi Steve, thanks for this, you raise a good point.
I have read through all the posts and just to give my twopenny worth……..I met Anita here in Dubai, I have to say she came across as a very down-to-earth woman with no real agenda other than to pass on a message of hope to others. I had the opportunity to chat with her for about an hour, looking at interviews that she has given posted on other site, I have to say that her story is consistent throughout. With regard to different medical practises in different countries, I think that what may be done in one country can be quite different in another. My son had an open fracture of his index finger last week, he was operated on and a plate inserted. He was kept in hospital for 3 days – government not private. In the UK his finger would have been set and he would have been sent home. People do different things in different countries.
Hi Angela, thank you for your comment. You are correct, medical practices do vary between different countries.
I think Anita does have a very positive message. She was undoubtedly a patient in ITU and from my experience of working in ITU for 17 years, if family had been warned of impending death and it had been recommended that family members be called to say their goodbyes then this is a clear indication that the doctors thought Anita was going to die – I don’t need to see medical notes to understand that. She then became unconscious and experienced an NDE. Instead of dying she made a recovery. Her NDE had such meaning for her that it completely changed the way she thought – her consciousness had shifted which is consistent with many other NDErs I have spoken to. The thing that strikes me about Anita’s case is that there are photographs of how she was when she had lymphoma. She was very thin, emaciated and looked very unwell. If you look at Anita now she is a picture of health and has such a positive attitude and just wants to help others.
I honestly do not know why people cannot find Dr. Ko when doing an internet search. I found him listed on page two doing a simple search of ‘Dr. Peter Ko’. He is a pathologist in Pasadena, CA. He is NOT the Dr. Peter Ko listed in NY or KY. You ended your search prematurely – keep going.
And apparently some do not know that a pathologist also works with cancer patients, looking at their dna and determining the best approach for treatment based on his/her findings.
Sheesh this isn’t rocket science……lol.
Hi Maureen, thanks for your comment, it is a great help.
Good morning,
Thank You for your work.
My question is very simple. Somehow, to know if this Dr. Is existing or not is very important to state. But….
…the first question lot of us ask is : why can’t we acced to the medical evidences ? When you give so much of your story to the world, the central point is medical report. Without this, the whole story is bancal.
Please forgive my approximat english.
Caroline
Hi Caroline, thank you for your comment. There was a comment posted on the blog a few weeks ago by Sandy and there is a link to a film clip of Anita, on the film clip there appear to be some relevant extracts from Anita’s medical notes.
Hi Penny,
In both of Sandy’s replies from 9th september, there is no medical report, I am afraid.
As per “The absence of proof is not proof of absence” Sandy mentionned, What an absolut ethical nonsense and revolting argument. We have to take her word for the truth is us told. Anita Moorjani is occupied to write her next book she explains. Well. The absence of medical report is not a proof of truth neither, is it ?
I am inclined to take it as a slightly transformed version of the effective story Anita Moorjani lived that has become bigger than the publisher would have anticipated. And there is no way to not answer these two points other than in presenting medical reports made before, during and after the recovery.
I wrote to Hay House as well as to Mrs Anita Moorjani.
People are purchasing book after book. It is time to be limpid so we can make something out of it. Or not.
Caroline
(ps please forgive again the not so well written english)
Hi Caroline, I saw somewhere that there was a clip of a documentary and there were some pages shown of Anita’s medical notes. I was sure it was on the links that Sandy sent but I must have been mistaken about where I saw that clip.
I don’t know any more than I have already posted. I am just interested in the case because Anita demonstrates quite profound life changes since her NDE. I have met many NDErs who have been transformed in similar ways and I think that if we understood the mechanism behind the changes then this could be very beneficial for a lot of people.
Anita’s medical records have been reviewed by Doctors interested in her case, by Hay House, by National Geographic International, CNN and others prior to including her story in their filming and prior to publishing her book.
In all fairness, why should Anita have to put all of her medical records out on the internet for everyone to review?
Anita is not worried about proving anything to anyone. She has shared her experience only in the hopes that it will help and inspire people.
If people are skeptical, that is fine. When Anita first shared her experience on the NDERF website she was subjected to question after question from skeptics and many attacks by debunkers. Thankfully she was brave enough to share her story. I for one am very grateful.
Hi Sandy, thank you for this.
Hi,
about medical notes. I’m not saying that they are the real ones. I can’t prove it, but on the National Geographic program: Life after life. Minute 36:06. and later.They show some docs. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSfNSTB-Xd8
Thank you for this fantastic debate.
Hi Carlota, thank you so much for this link. I thought I’d seen a clip somewhere with some reference to medical notes.
National Geographic International, CNN and Hay House all reviewed Anita’s medical records prior to inclusion in the filming and prior to publishing her book, Dying To Be Me.
Hi Sandy, thanks for providing this extra information.
3% of advanced cancer patients survive without having an NDE for everyone to read about.
Hi, thanks for your comment. Yes, indeed some people do survive advanced cancer. How do we know these people haven’t had an NDE? Research has shown that many people are reluctant to discuss or share their NDE. Indeed, only 2 patients in my study volunteered the information that they had experienced an NDE, the remaining 13 patients would never have spoken about their NDE if they had not been asked if they had any memories of the time that they were unconscious.
I am in Antigua right now and 2 days ago it was a storm here and I pulled out the book from the lobby library, yes this book. Today is the 25th of December and as I read this book more and more, I started to realize that it was reason I pulled this particular book, I have never knew who she was nor I thought I would be interested in this book more than a day, but I had the same feeling of not belonging anywhere in the US, I came from USSR where the communism party was an agenda for all of us. and then I came to US !3 years ago and I had a pipe fell on me in the Home Depot in Federal Way, WA. it hit me in the elbow, head and back , I was taken to ER and they discovered a brain tumor on the same place this pipe hit me, after surgery I had hemiplegia and doctors said that it was better to be paralysed here than in Russia, Kaitleen Bell, the Rehab professor of the UWMC told my husband last year during the dinner /we surprisingly met through the synagogue members that my husband was attending/ that they, doctors really never expected me to walk again, she was the one who told me long time ago that I would have all social services here and government takes care of the disabled people. The nurse Joise called Simon Kalchik,/ who was a paralysed patient a month before I got there, he was also a miracle, just passed in June,2013/ and asked him about his daughter Olga Derlyuk, who had 12 children/ now 15 grandchildren/ they started to come every day and helped me emotionally in every possible way they could, not forget to mention that my husband I recently married just left me in the hospital/ oh boy, I knew him for 2 years, travelled the world with him, he knew all my friends, relatives in Russia/ . These Christian people started to pray, and miracle have happened, I cried, no one could believe it, they all me a star patient, I volunteered for 375 hours, got a job there, Dr. Andrew Panagos, resident at that time, couldn’t believe and tried to put on a safety belt when we walked in the hospital halls, many of them. I am still friends with Derlyuks, they helped me to buy a car, fed me, it felt like it was God was taking care of me. My medical records say “She has made a dramatic recovery of all of her neurological deficits”. It was too much more to that story, my feelings of being able to walk again, my daughter, Jane or Zhenya, supposed to come in May to US on the 05162001, Derlyuks were only people, I would say more, family, I had. My ex – husband begged me to come back with him and how sorry he felt, we got back together but not for long….. and etc… But as my life went on I started to meet many people with different beliefs and dogmas, Pentecostals, baptists, Mormons and every one tried to convince me that their religion is the way to heaven. Guess what, my 3rd husband is a Jew, his entire family are not religious, but my husband goes to synagogue and takes my boys 7, 5, 4 / yes! I had 3 boys after my brain cancer radiation treatment, (in year MRI showed a new gross, I did 30 sessions of 54 grays, life-time radiation, on remission since 2002, thanks Jesus, or God or whatever you call it, higher power. I always tried to find answers WHO ARE WE? WHY DID WE COME INTO THIS WORLD, OUR BODIES ARE JUST LIKE A SHELL, I agree with Anita we are spiritual beings, after surgery I didn’t feel my body, I am not saying that I had a NDE here, maybe it were meds, maybe something else, but I was wondering why I wouldn’t feel my body, I saw a vision like a woman all in black brought me white slippers, in Russia it meant your death came, so she said to me, “I am your death, I came to take you with me”, I answered no, go away, you can come back in 50 years”, she said; “ok”. Now I say to myself I will die at 100 years old, while asleep. I believe it now, don’t even know why, its just a feeling that I already know it, we will see. I also believe in Karma like Anita and wondered what for do I have all these medical problems . (Long story I had 13 surgeries in my life, 4 C-sections, brain surgery, other 8 I have had almost 22 years ago after C-section, it was human factor though, they left a piece of placenta in the uterus, omg, many people have told me I should write a book too, sorry no time for now, will start at 95! )
But then as I read it further Anita wrote she was discharged from the hospital on the 9th of March 2006, it was my 34th Birthday and I was pregnant with my 1 son, who was born on the 8th of May 2006. On the 16th of March is my husbands Birthday, and I thought, “wow, she sounds like Jesus to me, something mystical is to it,”. I didn’t even realize that it was a Christmas as my husbands family 24ppl here are Jewish and they don’t really care, moreover, they think only inferior people are religious, well I am not here to judge, just to share my story and feeling that I might have known Anita, as she described her feelings. I love people unconditionally and I feel the love and always felt it here, I practiced forgiveness and tolerance and wonder to myself sometimes,” why don’t I just hate this person ” My parents were happily married for 45 years, we celebrated it in July, I feel fortunate that I can see them every year, and we are on the phone a lot. I think it helped me to be resilient, actually my dad was telling me all the time that God is within us. The bottom line is MIRACLES HAPPEN TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THEM.
Forgot! My son DAniel who is 5, fell out the window 12.5 feet in 2011/28th of June/, 3 y o at the time, had craniotomy been in ICU for 3 days, been released on the 3rd of July. No any other deficits after his head had 24! fractures. Isnt it a Miracle?
I do believe in Miracles, that’s for sure, also one engineer Keith Nyberg from an engineering company Electroimpact, WA was in coma for a more than a month after a motorcycle accident, probably hit and run, he was in a ditch for an hour without consciousness, before he was lifted to the Harbor View Medical Center; guess what?, no deficits what so ever, back to work, just saw him and his wife at the party on the 14th on Dec 2013.
Hopefully it can help and inspire someone who is in the hospital battling the disease, no matter what disease, cancer or not.
Miracles do happen!!!
Wishing everyone lack , love and the sense of belonging.
What you believe is going to happen to you. I never believed that I would be paralyzed rest of my life
Hi Maria, wow thank you for sharing such an inspiring experience with the blog. How wonderful that you have made such a remarkable recovery. I was also pleased to hear that your son has also made a good recovery after he fell out of a window.
One thing that particularly interested me is your vision of the lady dressed in black who brought you white slippers – you mentioned that in Russia, this means that your death is approaching. I have never heard of this before so this is very helpful to me in understanding NDEs from a cultural perspective. Thank you so much for sharing this with the blog, I’m sure many of the followers will be interested to read what you have written.
Russians put their diseased relatives to the coffin in the white slippers. I knew I was not sleeping, but my eyes were closed. Also at one point I didn’t feel my body, but I didn’t see my body from above either, I just remember I was asking myself, “why don’t I feel my body?” It felt very very weird; but I was also on pain meds.
Another out of body experience I felt during my 4th C-section, after docs game me ketamine/? spelling/,because I felt excruciating pain when they started to cut my abdomen, I started to laugh like crazy asking, “Am I in NASA training, where do I fly?” and laughed and laughed and laughed x 100. It felt like I was in roller coaster, but without the body and I was totally in my consciousness, just also laughed. WAS WEIRD. I never tried any drugs in my life, so it probably were out of body experience due to this med.
Hi Maria, thank you so much for adding this. It is really helpful to find out cultural differences on these types of experiences.
These other experiences you have described are also interesting to me. Sometimes I think that such medications can be a gateway to an altered state of consciousness. The experience you described during your C section is quite common in people who have had ketamine administered.
http://boinkie.blogspot.de/2013/01/when-nde-doesnt-meet-smell-test-find-dr.html
I think this post nails it.
I watched the NatGeo story Life after life and I’ve read and loved Anita’a book as well. Anita’s story it a beautiful, life altering event. My only question is the docs depicted on the National Geographic showed the name Anita Shamdasani rather than Moorjani. Does anyone know why ?
Hi Diane, thank you for your comment. You have a good question – I’m not sure of the answer (maybe Moorjani is a pen name??).
Anita’s ‘Maiden’ name is Shamdasani. 🙂 Her full, legal name is Anita Shamdasani Moorjani.
Hi Sandy, thank you so much for clarifying this.
thank you for all these very interesting readings. The human mind wants to agree and disagree with everything. Question and process. I love what Anita is saying which amounts to an understanding outside of our prejudices, outside of our normal conditioned minds.
People will be skeptical and look for reasons against because it is how our minds work.
thank you Anita for life changing insight
Graham
Hi Graham, thanks for your comment, you’ve made a really great point. I agree it is natural to question and process, I too like what Anita is saying, she has a lovely message.
Hear, hear, Graham! Anita has been incredibly brave to share her experience with the world. One only has to read her words to recognize the truth behind them. To her detractors I would say: put the suspicion on hold and simply read her words – read what she has learned from her remarkable experience.
Thanks for your comment Julie. Yes, I agree that what Anita is sharing about what she has learned is very helpful.
I find Anita’s book to be the most inspiring NDE story I ever read and have read 1000s since the 80s and have attended NDE support groups to listen to the stories. Interestingly Anita states things I have long ago believed and that is no one is really evil at the core which is why I have compassion for those who commit awful crimes rather than hatred or contempt. Her book also paralells with some of the messages in Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations With God books. The only thing I am not sure I believe is that everyone at death goes straight to the oneness. I believe there are many realms some of which are earth like but far more beautiful and peaceful which some NDERs also experience. THe only thing I am trying to understand is what are the meaning of Hellish NDEs and why some people have them. They seem to be most common among suicide attempters though most do have positive NDEs
Hi Tom, yes I think Anita has a very inspiring message.
You raise a very interesting point about the possibility that not everyone goes straight to oneness. The hellish NDEs are more difficult to understand and research as there are less examples than the pleasant ones and many who have hellish experiences don’t want to ever talk about or recall the experience.
There have been some hellish experiences that turn into pleasant ones eventually. Professor Christopher Bache also suggested that it could be a direct experience of the collective unconscious of the whole of mankind and if people had multiple NDEs then each time they would be different.
Hi Penny. I have read tons of NDEs and as you mentioned most are very pleasant. I have read a few hellish accounts. The most stand out to me me is the case of Matt Dovel who had 2 NDEs. The first at age 12 which was very pleasant but it did put him out of balance and in his teens and 20s he turned to drugs and drinking. Around the age of 25 he decided he could not live anymore and wanted to get back to heaven so he attempted suicide and had a very hellish NDE in which he described going to a very dark and grey horrible place and experienced pure negative emotions. He also described being split into 7 seven different versions of himself and experiences the pain he caused others both past present and future. He stated in his book that hell was eternal but I don’t believe his interpretation of his experience. I think his hellish nde was meant to help him live his purpose one of which was getting off of drugs and starting an international suicide prevention organization.
Hi Tom,
Thank you for your comment. Matt’s NDEs sound very interesting from what you have written. I’m not familiar with his experiences so thanks for pointing them out to me – I will get a copy of his book as it sounds as if both NDEs had a big effect on his life.
Each NDE is uniquely experienced and interpreted by each person but it seems to have had a profound effect on Matt. He seems to be very inspiring having been able to give up drugs and start an international suicide prevention organization.
I posted a comment yesterday but it disappeared. Anyway I have been deeply into studying NDEs since the late 80s and have read just about all the books and other sources and found Anita’s to be the most awesome case I ever read. The only thing I am not sure I believe is everyone going straight to the oneness upon death. I do believe those who have lived depraved or destructive lives can be trapped for some time in a lower dark realm or earthbound state but I don’t believe it is divine punishment. Our thoughts and actions can create our reality not only in this life but the next one as well but I believe that everyone eventually reconnects with the oneness at some point since is our true state.
Hi Tom, your comment did get through to the blog (I’ve been very slow in responding recently). I’ve replied below in the previous comment. I do think our thoughts have a big influence on our life and our state of mind as death approaches.
The five-year relative survival rate for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma has more than doubled, from 40 percent in whites from 1960 to 1963 to 87.6 percent for all races from 2003 to 2009. Five-year relative survival rate is 93.5 percent for all people who were younger than 45 years old at diagnosis.
Hodgkin Lymphoma | The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
http://www.lls.org/…/hodgkinlymphom...
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Hi MB,
Thanks for this
I’m very grateful to you Dr Sartori for being so responsive & well mannered & to everyone else here. I’ve learned SO MUCH from you all. From the discussions, I realize that the content of each NDEer’s experience will be related to his/her beliefs in actual (like the Russian seeing white slippers). So I’m interested in Anita’s beliefs prior to her NDE. I’ll like to compare that with her story. I think that will help a lot as we all work to unravel the mystery of consciousness & the after-life. Thank you all.
Hi Chinedu,
Thank you for your lovely comment. Yes, I’m also learning a great deal from the discussions on the blog. It is really great to hear everyone else’s ideas as they have really helped me to have a balanced approach to my studies. I agree, it will be interesting to find out more about Anita’s beliefs before her NDE. She mentions on a youtube clip that her views and beliefs changed drastically after her NDE.
Why is Dr. Ko as elusive as Big Foot. My kids pediatrician has more search engine hits than this guy and everything on Dr. Ko is vague. Harvard and NE Journal of medicine would be all over this if this was credible.
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your comment. I had a very interesting message sent to me by Zizang via my website message service:
COMMENT = I definitely suggest you post this link on your blog’s entry about Anita Moorjani — https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/consotherapy/HaTqwEexuz8
This should settle any qualms about her through doubts about Dr. Ko!
I found the link just by searching Google. The easiest search term to use is “Peter Ko oncology”. The link comes in end of p. 3 of the search results. Do open the attachments. It will settle for good the professional and education backgrounds of Dr. Peter Ko. They are detailed enough to be checked with Anita herself, Hay House, etc.. You may even contact the organising body to get photo of Dr. Peter Ko and post it, so that people can see if he is the same person as in the late 2006 HK Polytechnic event with Anita herself.
I am baffled why no one in a clinical department, hospital or university, ask their medical librarian to look up details about Peter Ko from professional sources. I am sure your British institution subscribes to US MD directories. Even if this is not the case, your institution’s medical librarian must be competent enough to make US contacts to do fuller searches.
I am an out of work and penniless MLIS (Master’s in Library and Information Science)