Barbara Bartolome
What Researchers Found
The Story
Barbara Bartolome was a 31-year-old mother of two young children when she had her near-death experience in 1987. It happened during a myelogram procedure before back surgery. An x-ray technician accidentally tilted the table the wrong way, causing her to hyperventilate and black out, leading to cardiac arrest. She left her body and floated to the ceiling. She felt calm and peaceful, wrapped in love. She saw the medical team call a code blue and start resuscitation. A being was with her, and she telepathically explained she wanted to return for her children and to fulfill her life's purpose. She watched them place an oxygen mask on her and hook up a heart monitor that flatlined. She moved closer to see the monitor. Then she saw the orthopedic surgeon strike her chest twice. After the second strike, she returned to her body and opened her eyes. She described everything she saw and heard, shocking the staff. No one discussed it with her, so she kept silent for 15 years. Later, she connected with NDE researchers, founded an IONS chapter in Santa Barbara, and joined the IANDS board. She gained understanding of her lifelong intuition from an earlier childhood NDE. Her spirituality shifted to a direct personal connection with God, without church attendance. She now advocates for sharing NDEs to help others.
“very much love towards god and i felt like that was like an extra family for”
This NDE features strong veridical perceptions from an out-of-body vantage during clinical crisis, with highly specific details of resuscitation actions, conversations, and equipment immediately reported to medical staff, eliciting shocked reactions implying accuracy; later confirmation of rare precordial thump by a nurse adds weight, though limited by lack of explicit staff corroboration.
Score reflects verifiable perceptions reported. A low score indicates the experience was primarily spiritual or subjective, not that it didn't occur.
Score reflects transformation as described. Domains scored 0 indicate the topic was not discussed, not that no change occurred.
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What Researchers Found
This NDE features strong veridical perceptions from an out-of-body vantage during clinical crisis, with highly specific details of resuscitation actions, conversations, and equipment immediately reported to medical staff, eliciting shocked reactions implying accuracy; later confirmation of rare precordial thump by a nurse adds weight, though limited by lack of explicit staff corroboration.
Score reflects verifiable perceptions reported. A low score indicates the experience was primarily spiritual or subjective, not that it didn't occur.
Score reflects transformation as described. Domains scored 0 indicate the topic was not discussed, not that no change occurred.