To Treat the Dead.

This article explores the discovery that when a person is clinically dead and their brain shuts down from lack oxygen, their cells do not die until their oxygen supply is resumed. This is a biochemical event triggered by reperfusion. Dr. Lance Becker at the University of Pennsylvania says that instead of killing the cells by flooding the heart muscle with oxygen during resuscitation, doctors should reduce oxygen uptake for gradual and safe reperfusion.