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Phew...this is going to be long but in defense of those of us who believe decapitation is a humane form of euthanization I had to explain that I didn't come to this conclusion lightly but instead probably put more thought and research into it than I should have done:
The issue may have been studied since the 1700s, but scientific study in the 18th century has little relation to scientific study now. Our understanding of anatomy has been revolutionized (no pun intended) since the French Revolution when most of the so called evidence emerged. Although I have only briefly read up on the concept of consciousness after decapitation, I have spent years studying 18th century literature and the time period itself, including the evolving nature of the natural sciences. What the body went through after decapitation was for a time engrossing to scientists, writers and laymen alike as guillotine horror stories seeped out of France. The problem with the stories used to prove life after decapitation is that all were proven to be either false, attributed to the wrong person or unsearchable and since science relies solely on empirical evidence, such stories can't be used to prove or disprove anything. To prove one way or another, a scientist would have to perform a human decapitation in a laboratory while monitoring brain waves, etc., and even then there would be questions because brain activity and physical movement do not equal consciousness as we know it...coherent communication would most likely be required to prove that. The main modern evidence offered comes from accidents which were usually reported by survivors in emotional and/or physical distress. For this reason, you'll be hard pressed to find a respected scientific publication that will say it is true...the best you can hope for as far as official evidence goes is that it is possible but unlikely. All the serious articles I could find flatly deny it. Believe me, I once tried to write a paper on an obscure short story written during the French Revolution and I thought it would be awesome if I could get a modern scientific perspective saying that all the creepiness of a temporary living head was a scientific possibility. Unfortunately, such a perspective doesn't exist and I had to go a whole new direction with the paper in the interest of authenticity. The bottom line is, even trained physicians can't say with any certainty when a person (or animal) becomes unaware before death. LOC usually happens before physical death and so the period in between is left to speculation. Modern science can only tell us when blood flow to the brain stops, making thought a physical impossibility. As a physical phenomenon, this happens within a few seconds in humans and even more so in animals whose circulatory systems move faster, i.e. chickens.
