The recent wake of Ecuadorian resident Bella Montoya has sparked controversy and confusion amongst mourners, after the elderly woman miraculously regained consciousness from what was believed to be cardiorespiratory arrest.
Just four hours after she had been declared dead, her loved ones were left stunned when they heard banging coming from inside her coffin.
Remarkably, video footage shows medics tending to Montoya as she is removed from the casket and placed onto a stretcher – breathing clearly.
Believed to have suffered catalepsy – a trancelike condition marked by the rigidity of the body, decreased sensitivity to pain and slower bodily functions such as breathing – hospital staff at the time thought that Montoya had passed away.
The Ministry of Health in Ecuador has assigned a technical team to investigate why a death certificate was erroneously rubber-stamped, however, this is not the first instance in which someone has been determined alive at their own funeral.
Last year alone, relatives of a 3-year-old Mexican girl noticed fogging up on the glass window of her coffin at her viewing service only for attendees later finding that she still had a pulse before sadly passing away in hospital later on.
These events may indeed be miracles but there is no denying that it constitutes negligence when medical professionals fail to correctly identify if somebody is truly deceased or not until it’s too late.
Furthermore, one cannot help but consider how much more grief family members could have been spared if hospitals took extra measures and precautions before declaring somebody dead – especially in cases like Montoya’s where cardiorespiratory arrests can cause similar symptoms to catalepsy yet be reversed with basic life support techniques such as CPR or defibrillation.
Via The NY Post: According to Balberán, the cardiorespiratory arrest caused her to suffer catalepsy — a trancelike condition marked by the rigidity of the body, decreased sensitivity to pain, and slower bodily functions such as breathing.
As a result, hospital staff allegedly believed that she had passed away.
Montoya is now being tended to at the same hospital that declared her dead, and her son says she is in stable condition.
“My mother is on oxygen. Her heart is stable,” he declared. “The doctor squeezed her hand, and she reacted. They tell me this is a good sign because it means she is reacting little by little.”
“Now, I only ask that my mother’s health improves,” he added. “I want her alive and by my side.”
2 Responses
Don’t they embalm people there? Just asking—–
well i smell a major law suit for the so called hospital! Not that they could care as they will just charge it to the future patients !