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The point is made with eloquence, but the science supporting the point is not clearly isolated, and it may not be for a very long time:

(A) the anecdote
The patient recounts hearing "I think we have a problem" after she finds herself hovering, and having seen the tool and having described the tool which she has not seen in real life. [this is described as mindsight - experienced while out of body  and it is an amazing mystery]
The patient recounts a scene 'cut' (to use a cinematic term) where she passes through some dimensional vortex meets her relatives briefly and is escorted back to her body and is revived [the classic NDE]
The heart and brain were flat lined for a period of time during the operation and the revival.

(B) the summary and conclusion
In the summary, another significant anecdote is recounted wherein a heart attack patient floats outside the treatment room of the hospital and sees a tennis shoe with laces stuck to the bottom - the object of this mindsight OBE was retrieved as described which is an amazing mystery.
I don't remember an associated NDE anecdote of meeting the dead and returning to the living, but it is classed as the NDE even though it is described as the possibly the most significant recourded OBE mystery.
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Ongoing points of argument are touched on with marginal accuracy in respect to ketamine experiences and the chemical relevance of that drug's gross metabolism and the curious results of angular gyrus (electro-)magnetic stimulation which seems to cause OBE like experiences but does not usually cause NDE experiences.

The force of the summary is to rally interest in the truth of stories of events happening in the period of time that the brain has flat-lined, and to pit that against the efforts of scientists that would wish to say that only while the brain functions is there an experience happening.

(C) my take on it

I think there is a clear separation in quality and in content of OBE experiences and in NDE experiences.
OBE and Mindsight involve non-body experiencing of the scene including aspects of the scene that can be elsewhere.

I think it is fair to say that OBE and mindsight are unsolved mysteries, but it is not fair to say that they occur during the flat-line time of the story.

I think that the NDE part - i.e. vortex transitions to visiting beings or relatives segued into return to the body is in a different class.

The time base of Dream Sequences is not discussed in this article. We know that entire dream sequences occur instantaneously or within seconds during which a story-line of hours may transpire (or get filled in afterwards).

My take is that the NDE is a dream sequence that always occurs after revival, as the brain is made to return to normal functioning.

I think the OBE is a dream sequence as the patient begins to succumb to narcosis/anaesthesia (or to natural mental state transitioning as dreams and emotional transitions in some reports) OBE's with Mindsight are rare and special and suggest that the mind has access to sensory input from senses that we do not fully understand.

The sciences of Dreaming, of Psychedelic and narcotic brain function as correlated to experience, have to be furthered to help isolate which part of which experience has which footprint in brain activity (i.e. recordable experience from the brain - some of this is now being done and we can see movies of ideas as they are being thought, recalled, and experienced - google "cat brain vision video"

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The time-line of experience has to be mapped to the time-line of the brain activity. (not assumed as it is in this case to be a single continuous timeline)

I believe that this account of an NDE was of the nature of two dreams: one prior to flat-line, and one after flat-line - but it is represented as having a continuity through the operation while we know dreams occur in an instant or in a very brief succession of moments.

The dream prior to flat-line has the extra special-ness of the mystery of Mindsight - the dream after flat-line suggesting afterlife geometries is problematic in that it attracts much belief and conviction among  people who did not actually have the experience - and this clouds the whole matter

I want them to investigate the real mystery of Mindsight and I want them to get smarter about dream reporting like the cat vision video.

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In the end, these handful of spectacular cases ignore the gazillion other people

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Sergions don't wait until the patient is under general anethesia

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Diploid said:

undeniable evidence that the phenomenon was real

If that were true, someone would have won the JREF million dollar challenge by now. I for one who have experienced the exact same thing, been 100% convinced, then realized I was fooling myself when a strict experimental protocol to prevent self-deception was put in place.

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