Deathbed Visions and the Moment of Death

Once considered a sacred and hallowed time, the moment of death has become destabilised within our secularised, medicalised world with the focus moving from the profound to the practical. Death may represent the end of life as we know it, but unbeknown to many, this time may be punctuated by transcendent phenomena, leading one scholar to suggest these events spiritualise death by bringing comfort and a sense of wonder to the person dying and their family. This chapter will review recent animal and human research that focuses on the end of life. It will probe the empirical and neuroscientific literature in an attempt to uncover meaningful information about the lived experience of dying and two of the now well-described, but poorly understood, accompaniments of dying, namely deathbed visions and terminal lucidity. Although at times speculative, the inquiry will show that deathbed visions and terminal lucidity occur at and around the time of death. These end-of-life phenomena are predominantly covert, yet they are considered by many to be instruments of healing for the person dying and a potential source of comfort for grieving family and friends. Based on what we know, and despite our limited understanding of unconsciousness, this chapter will conclude with broad recommendations concerning the holistic care of unresponsive dying patients.