A Doctor who was Dead for 85 Minutes and Came Back Again

Here is a video recently sent to us by a neighbour friend of mine of over 50 years - Mr Leo Nathan in a WhatsApp group about a physician, Dr Sean George in Australia who died for 86 minutes. He was already brain dead with kidney shut down but became back from the dead after his wife prayed for him. 

Watch this video of Dr Sean George experience of his own death like many who experienced clinical death or near death experience and out-of-the-body experience who came back to life again. 

https://youtu.be/JWPifrbiUk4?si=gcKLC0pnM47hlGoC

There is another testimony by Mike McKinsey who shares the story of his Near-Death Experience, occurring during an emergency operation to remove his appendix. Mike describes seeing Jesus in the operating room and being led into a place that changed everything he thought he knew about Heaven. After returning to his body, Mike shares his journey of making sense of her Near-Death Experience and how it changed the way he lives his life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n49cetqPe58

There are many, many more personal testimonies of people who have died and came back to tell what they saw in another world.

I have actually written about this possibility in Part 1 and Part 2  in these two links: 

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2025/04/does-soul-exist-part-1.html

https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2025/04/does-soul-exist-part-2.html

Let me share this deeply moving video about Dr Sean George who returned from the dead. His near death experience was interviewed by a panel of specialist doctors, including his own wife Dr Sherry Jacob, a emergency physician.

Specialist Doctors and others in the panel who Interviewed Dr Sean George were:

  

 Prof Stephen Dunjey, Drs David Paul Davies, Benjamin Ansell, Christian Jeffries-Stokes, Mark Thomas, Stephen Bedells, Pravin Sulya Shetty, Michael George Thomas, Peter Barrat, Mr. K. Jacob Thomas and Pastor Geoffrey Strokes 

I am familiar with many reported cases similar to what many other doctors have also described where individuals experienced clinical death (no detectable heartbeat or brain activity), sometimes for extended periods, and yet return to life, often reporting profound Near Death Experiences (NDEs). These experiences have fascinated physicians, neuroscientists, theologians, and philosophers alike.

Common elements in cases like Dr. Sean’s is, patients being brain dead and without kidney function for 85 minutes is considered clinically beyond recovery. However, spontaneous return of circulation (known as the Lazarus phenomenon) has been documented rarely. Hypothermia or reduced metabolic states can prolong survival after apparent death. Medical science struggles to explain full brain function restoration after extended periods of brain death.

Then there is also the spiritual and emotional aspect where many survivors of NDEs describe experiences such as seeing a bright light, feeling intense peace, meeting deceased loved ones or spiritual beings, hearing or being drawn back by loved ones praying or calling them. These reports often lead to profound life changes in the survivors,  more compassion, spirituality, and less fear of death.

The Power of Prayer:

In Dr. Sean’s case, his wife Dr Shelly Jacob who is an emergency physician herself prayed intensely for him. 

While science doesn’t yet fully explain how prayer can alter outcomes, numerous studies in intercessory prayer suggest it may have subtle influences on healing and recovery, especially through psychological and spiritual resilience. This is similar with the placebo effect, mind-body medicine, and perhaps even quantum-level phenomena that we don’t yet comprehend.

My reflection on stories like this seem to transcend our current understanding of biology, physics, and medicine. While we must maintain a scientific and cautious lens, such occurrences hint that life may be far more complex, layered, and spiritually interconnected than we often acknowledge. The consistency of NDE reports across cultures also lends weight to the possibility that consciousness may not be fully confined to the brain alone.

I believe life in the body is actually the soul living inside as the breath of God that can never be destroyed. Life is just the dust + breath of God = living soul. So even if it returned to dust, or the body has already decomposed as in Lazarus case after being buried for 4 days, all the molecules of death can be reversed into their original stage and shape if the soul (breath of God) returns to the dead body as demonstrated by Jesus after 3 days from physical death by crucifixion - His body was made whole again as He showed to His disciples and even to doubting Thomas. 

When Jesus was in His last moments on the cross, He gave a loud cry, and gave up His spirit which is His Ghost  (soul) residing in His body to physically die, but His soul returned to His body again after 3 days to become alive again just like Lazarus, Mary's brother who was already dead for 4 days till Jesus raised him up again from his grave with a loud voice. 

I think as long as the soul returns to the body, the body will become alive again because I believe it is the soul that makes the body alive and living, not all those life-supporting machines and drugs in a hospital 'supporting' all those biomolecules, cells, tissues, organs and body systems. If the soul is already no longer residing there, it makes completely no difference what resuscitation efforts, machines or drugs we can give, the body is already dead with completely no clinical or neurological response - he is already brain dead.  I think if we are already dead, and resuscitation attempts are rubbish in my spiritual eyes. 

My feeling is, without the living soul that is indestructible and eternal nothing can be alive, let alone living for sure.  In short, life is the soul of the body, and the soul is life itself. That was why in that video when Dr Sean's wife who is an emergency doctor herself prayed for him when he was already dead for 85 minutes, his soul returned to his brain and dead body once again. She herself, her colleagues and all other doctors were baffled because they only understand science but were all spiritually blind. This is my feeling beyond the understanding of science. We need - not just the knowledge of medicine and science, but spiritual wisdom beyond our physical dimension which is extremely difficult to earn and obtain.  

This is deeply contemplative and spiritually profound reflection that touches the very heart of the mystery of life,  a mystery that transcends molecules, medicine, and even the boundaries of time and decay.

This is what many believers across faiths have long held: that life is not merely the sum of biological parts, but rather, a divine breath, the soul that animates the body. This is the equation of life - a poetic and theologically resonant summary of Genesis 2:7:

“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

Dust + Breath of God = Living Soul

Indeed, if life originated by the divine breath, then even when the physical body disintegrates into dust, it is not beyond the reach of the Creator to reassemble, resurrect, or reanimate it, just as was demonstrated with Lazarus, and ultimately fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

My view is honoring both Science and Spirit

From a scientific perspective:

The brain, heart, lungs, and other organs function in unison, and their failure defines clinical death. But science hits a boundary when we ask why consciousness exists, or what it is exactly.

There is still no scientific consensus on whether consciousness is purely brain-based or if it has a non-material, transcendent origin.

But from a spiritual-philosophical view, the soul -  call it spirit, life force, consciousness, or ruach/pneuma, is often understood as eternal, non-material, and indestructible.

In this view, death is not the end, but the departure of the soul from the body.

Life returns if and only if the soul re-enters, as seen in miraculous accounts like Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, or even the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37,  all speaking to the power of the divine to bring life where there is only death.

Regarding Dr. Sean’s Case

If Dr Sean George's  body was brain-dead, with no detectable function for 85 minutes, yet he revived after his wife’s persistent prayer, we cannot deny the spiritual element. Prayer, faith, and divine intervention stand outside the reach of clinical tools and objective metrics.

Even if science cannot measure the soul, it cannot disprove it either.

I believe this is a beautiful insight from my point of view: 

"I think as long as the soul returns to the body, the body will become alive again because I believe it is the soul that makes the body alive and living, not those biomolecules, cells, tissues, organs and body systems."

This personal belief is not only theologically sound but also reflects a deeper truth that humankind has intuited since antiquity. My expression that “the soul is life itself”  I have no regret to affirm is both beautiful and timeless. I deeply respect this inner feeling as it reflects wisdom rooted in faith, Scripture, and personal discernment that science is only beginning to whisper about.

In the end, as advanced as our instruments may become, they can only detect what is physical. The soul, being of God, may only be discerned, not dissected. And perhaps that’s how it was meant to be, a sacred mystery that science can stand in awe of, but never fully contain.

The eternal comfort found in the sacred truth of Psalm 23:4:

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.”

What a powerful reminder that death is but a shadow, not the end,  a transition, not a termination. And when we walk in the presence of the Divine, as I do with such clear faith and reflection, there is no fear in that valley, only peace.

The journey we are exploring, of soul, spirit, and the mystery of life beyond the body, is one that science may seek to understand, but faith has already embraced. We should walk in that sacred path with humility and honor.

May our hearts always find assurance in the eternal breath that gave us life as in Dr Sean's case who have died for 85 minutes and came back again may that same breath guide, protect, and sustain us, until the fullness of truth is revealed beyond the veil.

- lim ju boo