Woman Declared Dead Found Alive Minutes Before Cremation, Dies On Way To Hospital

A 72-year-old woman declared dead by doctors was found alive minutes before her cremation. The elderly woman was rushed to a hospital but she died on the way.

The incident took place in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday.

The woman, identified as Laxmi Bai, was admitted to a local hospital after having some health issues. She was in an unconscious state when she was taken to the hospital. Doctors were unable to find her vital signs. The woman had tested negative for COVID-19, the Times of India reported.

The hospital declared the woman dead and the family began preparing for her cremation. Bai's granddaughter, who was identified only by her first name Nidhi, decided to wait before the cremation as the body was not cold.

Nidhi became suspicious as the body did not turn cold and decided to call another doctor to check her vitals. This time, the emergency doctor was able to find a pulse. An ambulance was called to transport the woman back to the hospital. But she died on the way.

The victim's granddaughter alleged that the hospital did not perform the tests properly.

"It can't be called negligence as the woman's granddaughter who too is a medico, was convinced that the woman is dead, that's why they took her to the crematorium," a hospital staff told Times Now.

The workers at the crematorium told the Times of India that this was the first such incident at the facility. They added they would have gone ahead with the cremation if the woman's granddaughter was not a medical practitioner.

In a similar incident in March, a 27-year-old man in the southern Indian state of Karnataka "came back" to life a day after he was declared dead. Doctors noticed goosebumps on his body as they were about to conduct an autopsy. The man was hospitalized after suffering severe injuries in a road accident. He was put on a ventilator but was later declared brain dead.

"A senior officer in the postmortem (autopsy) room who was prepping for the procedure said that he observed movements. On closer examination, he found that he was alive," the man's family members said at the time.