Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics

In the summer of 1977, an extraordinary event involving a respiratory arrest occurred, which forever changed my personal and professional life, and simply removed any previous fear of death. A brief glimpse of the amazing Glory of God has remained with me since the time of my near-death experience (NDE).

At the time of this event, I was a 20-year-old medical student. While taking a Saturday exam, I developed double vision, which progressed rapidly from intermittent to constant. My upper eyelids also became quite heavy.

Once I completed my exam, I called my dad, also a physician, whom I met in the local emergency room, along with several specialists. Hospitalized, my situation rapidly declined into a descending paralysis. Zika virus-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome, Jacksonian variant, was considered likely by the neurologist. Just prior to being transported to the pulmonary lab to measure my breathing, a physician performed a physostigmine challenge. Unknowingly, he administered an overdose using rapid sequential serial boluses. My situation deteriorated shortly thereafter to acute respiratory failure. I lost consciousness while in the pulmonary lab, simply unable to breathe on my own any longer.

Next, I found myself looking down, suspended about 30 feet above what appeared to be a young, slender brunette lying on the floor. As if watching a movie inside a theater, I could see through floors, walls, and ceilings clearly and in a 360-degree 3-dimensional fashion, yet was detached from the flurry of activities below, which I could audibly hear. Vision was everywhere, all at once, and in incredible detail throughout this entire event. I could not understand why the person below was trying to resuscitate the brunette, as clearly there was nobody inside its lifeless form. I did not, at this moment, connect that what lay below was my own motionless body, nor did it remotely concern me, as the body below was completely unimportant. [End Page 11]

Meanwhile, my attention was drawn to a brilliant, beautiful, colorful, living, peaceful, purely loving, whitest light source off to my right and above me. It had a familiar and comfortable living presence, toward which I found myself extraordinarily drawn. It emitted and transferred pure love and acceptance, which remain difficult to fully describe.

By simply desiring to be with this loving, lighted place, I rapidly traveled towards it, leaving behind the darkness here on earth. While in rapid transit, it occurred to me that I had just died. I paused to ponder my situation more fully. By now, I was closer towards the living, loving, pure light source, and the darkness was farther away. I could not wait to reach it and was rapidly enveloped into the joyful wonder and beauty. My soul merged with this hallowed place, where I was able to communicate with the many other souls there, each beautifully illuminated beyond what I can describe, and each of whom completely and deeply loved me … and always had. I would liken each of these to the Glory of God, which shown through each of them constantly. Likewise, I fully loved each of them, though I am still uncertain as to who they were. My soul was intact while there. This place was extraordinary in comparison to Earth's mix of love and darkness, as it only contained pure love and was without any remnants of human sin or darkness. Upon arrival at this place of Glory, I knew it as familiar and comfortable, as it was from here that I had originated.

My knowledge and wisdom of these beautiful, loving souls, as well as my own soul, was greatly and extraordinarily enhanced. (Upon return to earth, my limited human characteristics resumed.) We each conversed in unison, simply by thinking. I was taught that Earth is a place of tremendous learning, much like going to school, which includes teaching, testing, successes, and difficulties alike. Life here on Earth is all about how to always honor God and help others, even in the midst of encountered challenges. Here, we are each given human attributes, both good and bad, while there, in contrast, only loving goodness exists. There were no political...