Ecuador: Woman Declared Dead Wakes During Vigil

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Facts

  • After being pronounced dead by a hospital doctor, placed in a coffin, and taken to a funeral parlor for a family vigil, 76-year-old Bella Montoya of Babahoyo, Ecuador, was found breathing after her coffin was opened to change her clothes before the funeral.1
  • Her son, Gilbert Balberán, told reporters that, four hours after being declared deceased and the medical examiner issuing her death certificate, "Her left hand was hitting the side of the coffin, and it was shaking."2
  • Montoya had been admitted to the hospital for a possible stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest, and after no response to resuscitation, a doctor on duty declared her dead. Ecuador's Health Ministry said she is now in intensive care at the same hospital in Babahoyo.3
  • Balberán also said his mother, who could be seen struggling to breathe while they waited for medics to arrive in video footage, "is on oxygen, her heart is stable. The doctor pinched her hand and she reacted, they tell me that's good because it means she is reacting little by little."1
  • The Health Ministry said, alongside the Health Services Quality Assurance Agency, a national technical committee has been formed "to initiate a medical audit to establish responsibilities for the alleged confirmation of death."3
  • This isn't the first time such an incident has occurred. Last year, relatives of a three-year-old Mexican girl noticed fog emerging on her glass coffin, after which they checked her pulse to learn she was still alive. However, she did later pass away.2

Sources: 1BBC News, 2New York Post, and 3CNN.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by Science Alert. Mistaken death pronouncements are very rare, and while sometimes medical negligence is to blame, the body's heart rate can also be so low that it is undetectable, and thus they truly seem to have passed away. Modern medicine, however, has equipped doctors with the knowledge to decipher between death and slow heart rate, which is why those with overdose, fainting, or similar diagnoses that can give the illusion of death shouldn't be worried about being declared dead prematurely.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Complex. While certainly rare, wrongful death pronouncements do occur and deserve to be investigated. Just this year, a woman in Iowa was found gasping for air in a body bag after a nurse declared her dead, with another woman in New York found breathing in the funeral home just hours after her pronouncement. Thankfully, this Ecuadorian woman is reportedly stable, but the Ministry of Health needs to figure out how such a grave mistake was made.