Scientists say people who die in hospital are likely to hear harrowing sentence even after they're dead

The final words people might hear just before they officially die have been revealed, you'll be glad to know.

Whether you believe in the afterlife or not, the only certainty in life is that, one day, we all will die.

Now that isn't really news for anyone, I should hope not anyway, as it seems scientists are learning more and more about what happens in the moments before we fully pass away.

What is the medical protocol when someone dies?

So the initial medical protocol when someone dies begins with the formal pronouncement of death.

Either a doctor or nurse will usually confirm the absence of life, such as no pulse and no breathing.

However, for someone to be medically classified as dead, their heart has to have stopped beating and passing blood flow to the brain.

Scientists have revealed why the brain can sometimes be active after a person has died (Getty Stock Image)

That's when the medical team will document the time and cause of death.

Dr Sam Parnia was the lead investigator for a study which looked at 567 men and women whose hearts stopped beating while hospitalised and received CPR between May 2017 and March 2020 in the UK and US. Less than 10 percent of the sample size of 567 men and women were discharged from hospital.

Researchers at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who conducted the study, said 'survivors reported having unique lucid experiences, including a perception of separation from the body, observing events without pain or distress, and a meaningful evaluation of life, including of their actions, intentions, and thoughts toward others'.

What are the words people hear before they die?

The final words people often hear before death have been revealed (Getty Stock Image)

Now, a key finding was a spike in brain activity up to an hour into CPR.

The discovery suggests that some patients might hear the announcement of their death before they pass away for good.

“These recalled experiences and brain wave changes may be the first signs of the so-called near-death experience, and we have captured them for the first time in a large study,” Dr Parnia said.

“Our results offer evidence that while on the brink of death and in a coma, people undergo a unique inner conscious experience, including awareness without distress.”

The lead author of the study explained that 'these lucid experiences cannot be considered a trick of a disordered or dying brain, but rather a unique human experience that emerges on the brink death'.

Although he notes that more research is needed to answer the new 'intriguing questions about human consciousness, even at death'.

According to the press release: "The researchers found these experiences of death to be different from hallucinations, delusions, illusions, dreams, or CPR-induced consciousness."

The study was published in the journal Resuscitation in 2023.