Kira Posted August 13, 2002 #1 Share Posted August 13, 2002 A 68-year-old man was mistakenly declared dead last week and refrigerated for five hours at a funeral parlor before a worker noticed he was alive, a Bordeaux hospital said Monday. The unidentified man, in the final stages of cancer, was declared dead Friday at a nursing home near the southwest city of Bordeaux. A doctor summoned to the home issued a death certificate. The man then was sent to a funeral parlor in nearby Macau, where he was refrigerated for five hours. An employee at the funeral parlor was preparing the man for burial when he noticed signs of life. "When I ... opened the cover, I saw that his stomach was moving," Laurent Besson told France-2 television. "I don't deny that I jumped." The man was transferred to the Bordeaux University Hospital and placed in intensive care, where he died Sunday night, a hospital statement said. It was unclear whether the refrigeration played a role in the man's death. The head of the hospital's forensics department, Sophie Gromb, said such errors, while rare, are not improbable. "A person can experience respiratory pauses, and if there's no pulse at the time, the subject could be declared dead," she said. "The law says you can't bury someone within 24 hours of his death, precisely to avoid burying people alive." The identity of the doctor who signed the initial death certificate was not released. Police in the Gironde region, where Bordeaux is located, said the man was terminally ill with throat cancer but the cause of his death had not been determined. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday, deputy prosecutor Jean-David Cavaille said. "For now, there is nothing suspicious," he said. "But we'll decide whether there was a medical error or a punishable infraction based on what we find." Bordeaux prosecutors also were trying to determine what to do about the different death certificates issued for the man. The Clos Lafitte nursing home had little to say about the incident. "We not hiding anything," a spokeswoman said. "All the facts connected with this case have been relayed to the police." :s01*shudder* All I'm gonna say is I hope someone checks that I am dead whenever that happens I still shudder at that scene in 'Scrooged' when Bill Murray wakes up in the coffin in the crematorium. *shudders need coffee and lie down* :s2 :s2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rae Posted August 13, 2002 #2 Share Posted August 13, 2002 *Scream* :s4 I heard something about this yesterday. The man was found alive and then sent to the hospital where he later died. That was all I heard. Very frightening. :s4 :s2*Gets a valium out and downs it with a shot of vodka* :s2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loonboy Posted August 13, 2002 #3 Share Posted August 13, 2002 [blue]Reminds me of a story in 'Everything's Eventual' by Stephen King... I think it's one of everyone's primitive fears. Yikes....[/blue] :s4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceyKC Posted August 13, 2002 #4 Share Posted August 13, 2002 You all know it used to be my terror, after reading a couple of E.A. Poe stories, at a very early age! Even now, I wouldn't suggest 'The Telltale Heart' for bedtime reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azazel Posted August 23, 2002 #5 Share Posted August 23, 2002 :s4 :s5 :s4 Reminds me of " THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW" by Wade Davis. Has anyone here read this ? It is about modern day zombies and the way toxins can influence the body into a coma like trance. There is a section in it I recall about the toxins in puffer fish (Japan). Once the body ingests this toxin it paralyses the muscles and the victim is seemingly dead. There is also an account of a Japanese fisherman who witnessed his own funeral !!!! Freaky Stuff. :s4 :s4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwalker Posted September 9, 2002 #6 Share Posted September 9, 2002 i heard of people with epilapsy being buried alive in the past. since most people pass out and appear dead. doctors should scan for brainwave activity before pronouncing a person dead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceyKC Posted September 10, 2002 #7 Share Posted September 10, 2002 I think that's how they got the saying, 'dead ringer' cause they tied a bell and attached a string to the inside of the coffin, so if the person woke up after being buried, they could ring the bell! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loonboy Posted September 10, 2002 #8 Share Posted September 10, 2002 [blue] You've just educated me, KC, with the bell story. Wow. What's even more creepy is that it happened so often that they had a contingency plan in place for people getting buried alive. Yikes. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just flippin well check the body first.... [/blue] 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizarro Posted September 10, 2002 #9 Share Posted September 10, 2002 forget being buried alive.... what about being EMBALMED alive... ouch. how about waking up in the crematorium? maybe we just need some decent doctors practicing for a change. its pathetic if you declare someone dead and they are still alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odinsupreme Posted September 10, 2002 #10 Share Posted September 10, 2002 Something similare happend over here, the man was in come and then declared braindead, But when they where ready to take the organs out they checked everything again, there was still brainactivity!! The man has now eye contact with his family again, but if he has some injuries, I dunno... :s4 Odin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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