CathInfo.com

... and, in a correct use of the term "begging the question" (petitio principii), this has as its premise that the soul has not yet left the body in that time.

I'm carrying this over from another thread, per Matthew's good suggestion.  One commentator suggests that EU may be administered anywhere from six minutes after apparent death, to a half-hour (see previous thread).  "Going way out on the flight deck", so to speak, grammarian (and armchair theologian of sorts, aren't we all? ) N.M. Gwynne opined that the soul does not leave the body until putrefaction has set in, which can be up to three days in.  The six-minute threshold dovetails nicely with the period at which oxygen deprivation --- which bodily death certainly imposes --- begins to kill the brain cells.  There is also a school of thought that says the soul remains with the body longer, if the death is sudden.  (But that's kind of unscientific, after all, biologically speaking, dead is dead.  Unless you're a tree.)

Thoughts from the forum regarding how long the soul remains with the body?

(As an aside, getting back to the pet peeve I cited above, we are now learning about logical fallacies in homeschool English class, and my son likes to "jerk my chain" by incorrectly (and deliberately) misusing the term "begging the question", per common parlance, to mean "that raises the question", just to get a reaction out of me.  At least he's being attentive to his studies.)