Eben Alexander

Eben Alexander III (born December 11, 1953) is an American neurosurgeon and author.

He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (A.B., 1975), and the Duke University School of Medicine (M.D., 1980).

Alexander has taught and had appointments at Duke University Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, University of Massachusetts Medical School, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Dana–Farber Cancer Institute et al.

While practicing medicine in Lynchburg at the Lynchburg General Hospital, Alexander was reprimanded by the Virginia Board of Medicine for performing surgery incorrectly.

In 2000, Alexander located his birth parents but he was initially informed that his birth mother did not then wish to meet with him.

Later on his birth mother changed her mind and agreed to meet with him.

In 2007, twice within a month, he operated on the wrong segment of patients’ spinal column.

In one of the cases, Alexander did not initially reveal his mistake as he believed the surgery had been beneficial; even though it wasn't the intended operation.

In 2007, Alexander was finally able to meet with both his birth parents and his birth siblings.

In 2008, he went under a medically-induced coma while being treated for meningitis.

He was sued by the patient for damages totalling $3 million in August 2008.

By 2008, Alexander was clinical director of the Brain Program at the Focused Ultrasound Foundation in Charlottesville.

In November 2008, Alexander was suffering from bacterial meningitis inflaming his brain and spinal cord.

He was flailing and in seizure, therefore the doctors put him into a medically-induced coma for his own safety.

The case was dismissed by the plaintiff in 2009 without comment from an attorney.

Due to these mistakes, Alexander temporarily lost his privileges at the hospital and was forced to pay a $3,500 fine to the Virginia Board of Medicine.

Alexander completed ethics and professionalism training to maintain an unrestricted medical license in the state.

His book Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife (2012) describes his near-death experience while in the coma.

He asserts that the coma resulted in brain death, that consciousness is not only a product of the brain and that it can goes on to an afterlife.

Alexander was born in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He was adopted by Eben Alexander Jr. and his wife Elizabeth West Alexander and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with three siblings.

Alexander authored Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife in 2012.

The book expounds on his near-death experience while suffering from a bacterial meningitis and under a medically induced coma.

Alexander describes how the experience changed his perceptions of life and the afterlife.

The book was a commercial success but also was the subject of scientific criticism in relation to misconceptions about neurology, such as conflating medically induced coma with brain death.

A 2013 article in Esquire magazine refuted many of the claims made in the book.

The doctor who treated Alexander stated that certain details cannot be true, such as claims Alexander made about speaking clearly at times he would have been intubated.

The Esquire article also reported that Alexander had been terminated or suspended from multiple hospital positions, and had been the subject of several malpractice lawsuits and that he settled five malpractice suits in Virginia within a period of ten years.

Alexander presented related lectures around the world in churches, hospitals, medical schools, and academic symposia, besides appearing on TV shows including Super Soul Sunday with Oprah Winfrey.

Alexander has also expanded on his NDE in the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the peer-reviewed Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association.

Proof of Heaven was included on The New York Times Best Seller list for 97 weeks.

Alexander's second book, The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife, was published in October 2014, where he again asserted the existence of an afterlife and that consciousness is independent of the brain.

Alexander framed his observations with quotations from spiritual teachers and paired them with the recent work of scientists with the aim of bridging religion and science.

He cross-referenced spiritual experiences from readers and different religions to build his case on what heaven looked like.

The Map of Heaven was number 12 on the New York Times bestseller list during the week ending November 2, 2014.

Alexander's third book, Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Heart of Consciousness, was coauthored with Karen Newell, cofounder of Sacred Acoustics and published in 2017.