The death of Anna Katharina Ehmer: a case study in terminal lucidity
The death of Anna Katharina Ehmer: a case study in terminal lucidity - PubMed

    

    
  
  



  

  

  

  



  



  
    
      
        
          
            
  Case Reports


            
  
    
  
  
    
      
        doi: 10.2190/om.68.1.e.
      
    
    
    
  


          
          



          

          

        
        
          
  

  
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      PMID:
    
  

  
    24547666
  

  


        
      
        
          
  
    
      DOI:
    
  

  
    
      10.2190/om.68.1.e
    
  

  


        
      
    
  


        
        
      
      
        
  Case Reports


        


  
    
    
    
    
      
  The death of Anna Katharina Ehmer: a case study in terminal lucidity


    
  


        

        
    
      
        Michael Nahm et al.
      
    
  
  
    
      
        Omega (Westport).
      
      
        
          2013.
        
      
    
  


        
        
        
      
    
  


  



  

  



  
    
      
        Abstract
        
      
      
        
          
            
      
      Terminal lucidity, the unexpected return of mental clarity and memory shortly before the death of patients suffering from severe psychiatric and neurologic disorders, has raised the curiosity of numerous physicians and laypersons in the past. However, this peculiar phenomenon has received little attention in the recent decades. In previous publications, we have presented overviews of cases of terminal lucidity in various neurologic and psychiatric disorders. In this article, we highlight terminal lucidity in persons with mental disabilities, and focus on one of the most remarkable cases that have been reported. We provide biographical background information about the two principal witnesses who reported this case. It concerns the death of Anna Katharina Ehmer, a 26-year-old woman with severe mental disabilities who lived in an institution for people with mental disorders, and who had allegedly never spoken a single word during her life. Yet, she was reported to have sung dying songs for a half hour before she died. The case was reported by the head of this institution and by its chief physician. We consider it difficult to evaluate the authenticity of the case definitively in retrospect. Nevertheless, there are similar cases and a variety of other anomalous brain-related findings we consider worth investigating. Studies into such anomalous cases might improve our concepts of human brain functioning and of mental processing in persons with mental disabilities, and might be of special value for the dying, the bereaved, and caretakers.
    
          
        
      

      
    

    

    

  


  
  



  
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        Personal name as subject
      

      
    
  


  



  
  

  



  
  
    
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