A family is furious when physicians declared a 90-year-old grandma dead and placed her in the hospital mortuary, only for a stunned cremation worker to discover she was still alive.
Norma Silveira da Silva, 90, was declared dead on Saturday, November 25, at approximately 11.40 p.m. local time at Sao Jose Regional Hospital in Brazil.
However, the employee who was preparing to transport her body noticed she was still breathing and her body remained warm hours after her apparent death.
He returned Norma to a hospital bed after noticing she was still alive.
Norma died just over a day later, in the early hours of November 27, despite being returned to the ward. She was cremated on that day.
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As a result of the error, Norma received two death certificates. The first, which was incorrectly reported, stated that she died of an infection.
According to local media, hospital officials, Brazil’s Medical Ethics Committee, and the Death Commission are now investigating how the woman was taken to the mortuary while still alive.
Norma’s friend Jessica Martins Silvi Pereira, who accompanied her to the hospital, stated that the devastated family intends to sue the hospital. “It’s a case of neglect that I would not wish on anyone,” she went on to say.
Describing the moment Norma was found in the body bag, she said: “When he opened the bag she was breathing very weakly. And, as she was no longer conscious, she couldn’t ask for help, she tried to breathe and couldn’t. I mean, from 11:40 pm until 1:30 am she was inside the bag almost dying asphyxiated.”
According to Jessica, the cause of death for Norma has not yet been determined.
