Corroboration of the dentures anecdote involving veridical perception in a near-death experience.

A widely cited near-death experience story describes a patient who, after being clinically dead, accurately identified the nurse who removed his dentures—information he should not have known. The author conducted an investigation into this account, which was originally published in a mainstream medical journal, to resolve ongoing speculations about its validity. The outcome of that investigation is reported, aiming to clarify whether the event occurred as described.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract: One of the most striking examples of near-death experience stories is the account of a clinically dead patient whose dentures were removed from his mouth prior to resuscitation, and which dentures were then lost. Days later the patient saw a nurse and told him that it was he who had removed those dentures. The patient was right, but he should not have known this information, because tat the time the nurse had removed his dentures, the patient was clinically dead. Since publication of this account in a prestigious mainstream medical journal, speculations have abounded. In this article I describe the investigation I undertook to put these speculations to rest and the outcome of that investigation.