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Why Can't a Corpse be Reanimated?
Emerald Inns
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As a follow on to the corpse/skeleton thread...
What actually prevents a corpse being brought back to life, from a scientific point of view? Clearly if a body's been dead for too long then it's not possible as too much damage has been done by decomposition. And if the body has suffered from severe damage it wouldn't be possible either. But what is there to stop someone reanimating a newly-dead body and keeping it alive?
What actually prevents a corpse being brought back to life, from a scientific point of view? Clearly if a body's been dead for too long then it's not possible as too much damage has been done by decomposition. And if the body has suffered from severe damage it wouldn't be possible either. But what is there to stop someone reanimating a newly-dead body and keeping it alive?
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Its called a life support machine, which techincally keeps the vital organs going until the decision is taken to switch it off. Bascially nothing yet has been invented that can perform the the stuff the brain does, once its dead you're gone.
If it were possible, more attempted resuscitations would turn out to be successful resuscitations ............... it's probably better if we learn to accept that the body (or some parts of it) sometimes just wears out.
So it's the brain that keeps the heart going and which 'tells' the lungs to breath? And 'brain death' is essentially 'total body death' too?
And Cazza, so if someone had a heart attack, why IS it so difficult to get the heart beating again?
Surely the person would stay alive then?
That makes sense. So the heart is too damaged to be saved? It doesn't just 'sit there' in the torso after death, waiting to be 'activated' again?
What about putting a new one?
The heart has its own blood supply via the coronary arteries, if these arteries are damaged, the heart muscle dies (myocardial infarction) the more muscle that dies due to lack of perfusion in the tissue the less likely the heart will be able to function properly.
Also sometime the 'electrics' go without that the heart can't contract. A heart that doesn't contract can't pump blood to the rest of the body, therefore multiple organ failure is the outcome and all the organs are damaged beyond repair.
Once the heart is dead it just sits in the body and decays.
Sorry Emerald - I went off to do something so didn't see your question.
Yes the heart does suffer damage during a heart attack and depending on which part is affected, there can be too much damage for it ever to be able to function.
Sometimes the heart can stop due to an electrical "short-circuit" and can be shocked back into a normal rhythm again .............. but that's a different kind of issue.
Unless they are in asystole, then more than likely they are a gonner. Although some studies. . . . . .
Asystole is sometimes referred to as 'flatlining' although this I have been told is not acutally the case, as there is still little bumps. this is when there is no electrical activity in the heart at all, and this is one of the signs use to certify death has occurred.
It seems that myocardial infarction is what's causing the real problems.
Looking into the future, do you see a time when the currently insuperable difficulties surrounding corpse reanimation will be overcome? Or are the different factors involved just too complicated?
Ali x:)x
You could'nt do it because the body would have no spirit. The spirit leaves the moment the person dies.
They shock the heart to get it beating again, remember we are talking about a healthy heart being restarted, not trying to restart a damaged one.
Myocardial infarction is the result of the whatever had caused the heart to stop functioning correctly in the first place.
As for the future, I have no idea.
My brain now hurts lots!
Oh come off it Granny............... it's not a physiology lecture!!! :p
Yes, you're stuffed in asystole!! ................ and you're right - flat-lining is an urban myth!
What point is that? Brainstem death? When the heart stops beating?
Yes. That is exactly what happens.
I don't believe that. If you reanimated someone from death, no matter if 100 years had passed, to the person who had been 'resurrected' it would be as though they had just been asleep. The 'spirit' is no more than synapses and chemical reactions whizzing about in your brain.
But please don't let this become a 'spiritual vs. non-spiritual' thread.
Sorry, but its one of the areas that I'm interested in so I actually studied! :D:D
First person that has ever agreed with me.;)
Really? :eek::eek:
:eek::eek::eek:
*grabs Granny by the hand and legs it* :D:D
Cos you're bonkers!!! :p:p