Podcast Summary: The Telepathy Tapes | S2E25: What We See Before We Die | Talk Tracks

Date: April 15, 2026
Host: Ky Dickens
Guest: Dr. Christopher Kerr, Chief Medical Officer, Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo, NY

Overview

In this moving episode, Ky Dickens is joined by Dr. Christopher Kerr, a hospice physician and researcher celebrated for his groundbreaking studies on end-of-life dreams and visions (ELDVs). Dr. Kerr discusses his journey from medical skeptic to pioneering researcher, sharing remarkable insights from his nine formal studies involving over 1,500 patients. The conversation explores what dying people report seeing and feeling in their final days—experiences that bring comfort, closure, and transformation, challenge the boundaries of neuroscience, and invite us to rethink consciousness itself.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Dr. Kerr’s Background & the Origins of His Work

• Introduction of Dr. Kerr & His Research Scope
  • Dr. Kerr holds both an MD and PhD in neurobiology. As head of one of the country’s largest hospices, he oversees care of ~1,200 patients daily ([04:05]).
  • Began with aversion to death, shaped by personal trauma (loss of his father at 12) and a scientific mindset ([05:50]).
  • Initially approached death strictly as a physical process, with little consideration of its subjective elements ([07:22]).
• What is Hospice?
  • "Hospice is first a philosophy which is really whole person centered care" ([04:56]).
  • Not just for the elderly—pediatric programs exist, emphasizing the universal nature of dying ([05:25]).

The Pivotal Realization: Dying as an Experience

• Transition from Observer to Listener

  • Nurses and staff recognized patients’ “subjective experiences”—vivid dreams and visions—as prognostic meaningful signs ([08:01]).
  • "They could prognosticate based on what the patient was experiencing… the content would change the closer they were going towards death" ([10:02], [10:33]).

• Personal Connection

  • Dr. Kerr witnessed similar experiences in his own father’s dying process, marking a profound personal link ([09:13]).

"The dying had another dimensionality to it that I had no recognition of." – Dr. Kerr ([08:01])

Turning Anecdote Into Evidence

• Academic Pushback & Designing Studies

  • Skeptical medical students pushed him to gather evidence rather than rely on anecdote ([12:37]).
  • Developed rigorous daily questionnaires, required third-party witnesses, screening for delirium/confusion ([13:05]).

• Documentation & Filming

  • Filmed lucid, cogent patients to challenge the “confused/delirious” stereotype ([14:27]).

Key Findings from 1500+ Patient Narratives

• Universal Patterns

  • Nearly 90% reported at least one vivid end-of-life event ([17:28]).
  • "We don’t have the right nomenclature. We say dreams, but people are emphatic that these aren’t dream experiences. These were happenings… overwhelmingly comforting well into the 80%" ([17:28]).
  • As death nears, visions of deceased loved ones increase and become more comforting; these encounters are immersive, multisensory, and more real than ordinary dreams ([17:28], [22:09]).

• Transformative & Healing Experiences

  • Around 20% were discomforting but often resulted in profound transformational healing—a chance to resolve lifelong regret or seek forgiveness ([18:28]).
  • Notable patient story: war veteran reunited in visions with comrades, easing survivor's guilt ([19:38], [21:29]).
  • Another patient found closure with his daughter after a distressing vision compelled him to apologize ([20:21]).

"You live your whole life with some sort of lesion, regret, or sorrow, and then it comes back to you, and you’re made whole again." – Dr. Kerr ([20:21])

Distinctions from Dreams or Hallucinations

• Patients repeatedly assert their experiences are "not dreams, not hallucinations" ([26:16]).
• "I've never had a patient say to me, 'Doctor, what do you think this means?'" ([27:22]).
• Cognitively intact patients describe these experiences as happening “with eyes open, with eyes closed, or both” ([27:27]).
• 50% have them with eyes open, suggesting immersion in a liminal, “foot in two worlds” state ([27:27]).

Content and Structure of End-of-Life Experiences

• Common Themes:

  • Early visions: travel, pets, scenes from daily life ([28:20]).
  • As death nears: focus shifts strictly to deceased individuals who provided unconditional love ([29:06], [30:12]).
  • “It’s never about the negative. It’s whatever helped form you best and most. To be loved unconditionally, that’s what’s there.” ([30:13])

• Stories & Notable Quotes (with timestamps):

  • Florence, 5 days from dying:

    "All these years my husband’s been dead and my daughter… we were, like, sitting at the kitchen table laughing… It was like a rain. Sunday dinner night." ([30:39])

    • No fear, only joy and love.
  • Patient recalling Lithuanian lullabies unknown to her family—evidence of unexpected memory recovery ([39:05], [41:14]).
  • Man with cancer experienced, in immersive vision, making spaghetti sauce with deceased grandmother, learning a final ingredient he’d never known ([41:38], [43:50]).

Special Experiences: Children, Dementia, and Cognitively Diverse Individuals

• Children’s ELDVs:

  • Children are less filtered and show remarkable intuitive understanding ([44:50] onwards).
  • Stories of comfort from deceased pets and reassurance about their parents after their own passing ([45:58]).

• People with dementia or on the autism spectrum:

  • Still have rich, immersive experiences—as medicine’s emphasis on cognitive “deficit” often overlooks ([55:49]).
  • Notable: Patient with Down syndrome lived the dying process as a maternal experience, carrying dolls as if pregnant ([57:34]).

"I think they can do this in a more immersive sense… it's not memories as much as experiences for them." ([57:34])

Universality & Cultural Scope

• These experiences are consistent across religious, ethnic, and cultural boundaries ([51:11], [69:48]).
• Religiosity/religious figures seldom appear; content is about love, forgiveness, and meaningful connection ([50:08]).

"There's no distinction—even us sinners get to feel something at the end." ([51:11])

Implications for Medicine, Science, & Society

• Current medical systems focus on organ failure, not the totality of experience; art of medicine is eclipsed by science ([58:40]).

• Field is not equipped with models, tools, or the time to fully explore or validate these experiences ([60:10]).

• Role of Psychedelics

  • Emerging parallels between organic end-of-life visions and psychedelic-assisted therapy ([60:20], [61:34]).
  • Early studies show psychedelics reduce fear, increase acceptance, and enhance sense of connectedness ([62:27]).

• Hope for the future: Earlier integration of such approaches to address loneliness and existential fear before the final weeks of life ([63:04]).

"Nature takes over, and dying becomes what it's always been—a human experience with dimensions beyond the physical." ([52:00])

Family, Bereavement, and Final Messages

• Families are often surprised and reassured by the evidence gathered. Dr. Kerr notes a growing public appetite—and push back against the medicalization of death ([24:00], [64:39]).
• The desire for a “humanized” death, not a “doctor’s death,” shapes public response and palliative care trends ([24:00]).

Closing Thoughts: Life, Death, and Not-Knowing

• Dr. Kerr reflects on facing his own cancer and his changed relationship to mortality ([66:46]).
• The dying process fosters life affirmation and giving to others, not fear ([69:29]).
• Most moving: children’s experiences, universal presence of love, and unexpected recall of forgotten memories ([53:42], [35:10]).

"Dying is a vantage point we have no idea of, and your perceptions and perspectives are going to change, and it’s okay." – Dr. Kerr ([32:21])

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “You die as you live… these experiences don’t deny death, they almost transcend it, but they validate life.” – Dr. Kerr ([18:54])
• “Imagine your greatest love, your greatest loss and your greatest joy… What if those things came back to you at the end?” – Dr. Kerr ([24:22])
• “I think there’s something special in the fact that something awaits us.” – Dr. Kerr ([32:21])
• “It’s ultimately, when medicine fails and you’re dying, nature takes over and takes its rightful place...” – Dr. Kerr ([52:00])
• On hope:

  “Hope transitions kind of for cure, to hope, to others. They just want the words to matter.” ([69:22])

• On medicine:

  "There's no billable codes for talking about people like this… Mainstream medicine could never have done this work." ([64:39]–[65:15])

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:50] Dr. Kerr’s background, scope of hospice care, and studies
• [07:22] Initial discomfort with death and transition to listening to patient experience
• [13:05] Study methodology and overcoming medical skepticism
• [17:28] Key findings—prevalence and structure of ELDVs
• [18:28] Transformative nature of discomforting experiences
• [30:39] Vivid case study: Florence’s recurring family gathering
• [39:05] Memory recovery and “evidential” details at the end of life
• [44:50] Children’s end-of-life experiences
• [50:08], [51:11] Universality and lack of religious focus in experiences
• [58:40] Lessons for medical students and practitioners
• [60:20] Parallels with psychedelic-assisted therapy
• [66:46] Dr. Kerr’s personal reflections on his own mortality
• [69:48] Cross-cultural perspectives on death and remembrance

Final Reflections

This episode offers a poignant and rigorous window into what the dying see and feel, blending science, story, and reverence. Dr. Kerr’s work confronts what medicine ignores, highlighting death as an experience full of meaning, memory, reconciliation, and ultimately, love. As the field (and humanity) grapple with consciousness’s frontiers, these stories affirm that “something awaits us”—and that dying, when honored for its subjective depths, illuminates the shape and substance of life itself.