Indeed, the process was so well refined that it would be successful years after ‘death’.

After much trial and error, he perfected the reanimation process. Imagine that Herbert was provided with all the support and resources he needed from the medical community.

How comfortable do you feel about a resuscitation attempt 1 day after cardiac arrest? How comfortable do you feel about a resuscitation attempt 1 hour after cardiac arrest? How comfortable do you feel about a resuscitation attempt 1 min after cardiac arrest? There are plenty of examples where the media have reported on how defibrillation has brought particular individuals ‘ back to life’. Resurrection is the revitalisation or revival of something and has a more religious connotations.Īlthough CPR success rates vary depending on the circumstances, in general the sooner it is attempted the more likely the individual is to survive and importantly, survive with less morbidity. Reanimation is the restoration of life or consciousness. Resuscitation can be defined as the action or process of reviving someone from unconsciousness or apparent death. What’s interesting when retrospectively reading about Herbert West is that now there is a type of reanimation process that exists, although we call it cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).Ī quick word on definitions. I hope I’m not giving too much away when I say he tries multiple times with incrementally intriguing but gruesome effects. He believes the sooner he can administer his experimental solution after death, the more more successful the reanimation process will be. Unable to convince the medical school to provide cadavers for experimentation, he seeks alternative means to continue his charnel obsession.

The premise is that Herbert West dedicates his medical student and working life to perfect a solution able to reanimate the dead. However, I’ll be focusing on the written text which is in the public domain and available here. Published serially over six episodes in 1985 it was adapted into a cult horror movie classic (+18) and spawned a number of sequels. Herbert West-Reanimator is a short story written by H.P. Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn Participate in a thought experiment about resuscitationģ. Introduce the fictional character of Herbert WestĢ. What would happen if medical science could reanimate the dead?ġ.

Herbert west reanimator