GREAT FALLS, Va. - While thousands of people have reported having near-death experiences, mystery and skepticism continue to surround the phenomenon. But now there is new research with physical evidence that could be tied to these experiences.

For the first time, a study has documented a physical change in the body just before death, and doctors suggest near-death experiences could be connected to it.

Colleen Orme vividly remembers the day her mother died.

"It was definitely, to me, an extraordinary experience and a spiritual experience at least," she said.

Orme's mother had been bedridden for two weeks.

"We'd go in and talk to her but never see any response, you wouldn't see movement," Orme recalled.

But then: "She went up and she hugged the air and smiled a huge smile," Orme recalled.

A minute later . . . "She suddenly did the same thing, she lifted her arms, she went up, she smiled, and that time she barely put her arms down when she did it again," Orme said.

Shortly after, she died.

"My grandparents and my father were the only people who pre-deceased her," Orme said, "so it's a little unusual that she gave three hugs and that was it."

Seeing a deceased loved one is a commonly reported near-death experience. And now, doctors at George Washington University Hospital have documented a bodily change just before death that could be tied to these experiences.

"The first time we saw this spike we said, 'My God, what does this mean? Have we made a mistake? Is this person not supposed to die?" recalled Dr. Michael Seneff, the GW's director of critical care.

They monitored the brain activity of do-not-resuscitate patients until the moment of death. For the majority of patients, brain activity declined to almost zero in the last hour of life, but then "It would, temporarily, for minutes or seconds, maybe a minute or two, go up to a level that's more associated with consciousness," Dr. Seneff said.

Doctors don't know what this means. But they speculate it could be a patient's brain cells dying simultaneously from lack of oxygen, or it could be connected to these reported near-death experiences. That's a thought that brings Orme comfort .

"It just doesn't surprise me because now I've witnessed it myself," she said. "She was smiling, she looked like somebody was meeting her. It's a gift, really; it's a great gift."

Researchers have plans to investigate this possible connection to near-death experiences further.

 Email To Friend