The 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.
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."
The Spin
Narrative A
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
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.
