14 DAY TRIAL // British heart patient Leslie Hackwell is likely to have set a new record for number of deaths.
The 49-year-old engineer 'died' 32 times in a matter of 20 minutes after having suffered a heart attack on 12 July 2005.
"I was neither alive nor dead. It was really quite remarkable that they managed to save me. They did an unbelievable job," BBC quoted him as saying.
Cardiologist Dr Nick West said it was unusual for a patient to suffer so many cardiac arrests.
The cause behind this incredible number of deaths seems to have been an anti-clotting drug used to open one of Hackwell's arteries which had closed up as a result of the attack.
The doctors had to use the defibrillator so many times to restart the failed heart that the man was left with burn marks on his chest.
Unfortunately, we have bad news for those who think that when they die angels or halos appear, because the 49-year-old engineer said he experienced none of those.
Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), commonly known as a heart attack, is a serious, sudden heart condition usually characterized by varying degrees of chest pain or discomfort, weakness, sweating, nausea, vomiting and arrhythmias, sometimes causing loss of consciousness.
It occurs when a part of the heart muscle is injured, and this part may die because of sudden total interruption of blood flow to the area. It is often a life-threatening medical emergency which demands both immediate attention and activation of the emergency medical services.