Grieving family members have decided not to take a hospital to court after it pronounced their elderly relative dead before she was found to be still alive in her coffin during her own funeral.
Carolina ‘Caluzinha’ Lopes de Almeida, 93, was pronounced dead from undisclosed causes at the Hospital Oswaldo Cruz in the town of Guiratinga in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.
It was only at her funeral that some mourners noticed her body was still warm.
Relatives thought it may have been because of the effect of the hot weather at the time, but they called a doctor to the funeral just to be sure.
(Newsflash)
After arriving, the doctor checked the elderly woman and said she still had vital signs despite having been lying in repose for eight hours, shocking her grieving relatives.
She was immediately taken back to the Hospital Oswaldo Cruz where she was later pronounced dead again, this time accurately, and another funeral and her burial took place on the following day.
The late woman’s relatives were reported to be very upset by the incident. However, they told reporters they did not intend to take the hospital to court.
The hospital has declined to comment on the case to local media. However, it will have to provide an explanation to the family regarding what went wrong.
It will also be subject to an investigation to find out if the elderly woman could have been saved had her death not been initially misdiagnosed.
(Google Maps/Newsflash)
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Story By: William McGee, Sub-Editor: William McGee, Agency: Newsflash
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