The human body is capable of some incredible autonomous processes, processes which happen subconsciously (like breathing), or bypass the brain entirely, like the notorious ‘knee-jerk’ reflex.

The Lazarus reflex, however, is a much more disturbing product of evolution. Hours after the brain has died, bodies are seen to suddenly raise their arms upwards and then gently lay them on their chest.

In the past, this has obviously led to the assumption that the patient is, in fact, alive and trying to make a sign or alert others. As Allan Ropper states in his paper ‘Unusual spontaneous movements in brain-dead patients’;