'Dead' man wakes up under autopsy knife

  • #21
Luckily in the US, a person cannot be cremated until the ME confirms death.
 
  • #22
I saw an Unsolved Mysteries about a baby that was pronounced dead and came back to life in the mother's arms like that. Maybe was the same baby as the one youd escribe :)
 
  • #23
Luckily in the US, a person cannot be cremated until the ME confirms death.


Hmm. What if there is no medical examiner nearby? My area has a coroner. I think the present coroner is a plastic surgeon, which is better than it could be.......the law doesn't even require that the coroner have a medical
background!

Our laws (Louisiana, what can I say) also require that a body be embalmed before cremation.......oh, and you have to purchase a little 'cremation casket' too.
 
  • #24
That is amazing. There was a huge medical law case over a physician who basically put a DNR order on an infant who - if I remember correctly (I watched it on TV) died of a SIDs case at home... it had been brought into the ER, where the hospital staff and a well known Pediatrician had attempted (unsuccessfully) to code the baby. The parents said their goodbyes to their child and left.
Apparently, the nurses walked in a short time later after the family left, to the place where baby had been kept for the family to view the body, and the baby was breathing and had a heartbeat - spontaneously. However, the breathing needed to be supported - this child was going to need supportive therapy if he was going to survive. But it was spontaneous!! Which - before - they had nothing spontaneous to work with upon arrival to the ER (my understanding from the show). The nurses immediately notified the Pediatrician, and ER staff began to code the baby again, and started to notify the family. However, the well known Pediatrician immediately put the squash on resusitative efforts on the baby - he told them NOT to code the baby, and told them NOT to tell the family what had happened or that they baby was breathing or having a heartbeat because and they had already "said goodbye" and because he thought that that was "cruel" and that the baby would most likely be brain damaged. Which, would be true... conventional wisdom would tell us that if blood supply is cut off to an individuals brain, either inside the womb or outside of it, then yes, usually, brain damange does occur. We have seen women who have abruptions who have severely brain damaged children and children who have very mild defect. It really varies. We have people who have completely coded (heart stops, they stop breathing) some have a large amount of brain damage, some have very little. It all is depends on how much or how little oxygen reaches the brain during those times. Very sad.

There were even allegations, I think, by one nurse that she stepped out of the room and left the baby alone with him while this was happening, and that when she stepped back in that he was smothering the child. It was VERY nasty. There was allegations that there was out and out arguing that night in the ER because the staff wanted to start coding the baby again when the baby started to spontaneously breath and have a heartbeat. Of course they wanted to save the child - or at least make a quick call to the family and ask them what to do for their son! That probably would have been the ethical thing to do.

The doctor was apparently was sited for unprofessional and unethical conduct, but never lost his license. The parents were of course, crushed. He continued to have a thriving pediatric practice. He stated that he felt that the child would have no quality of life, so he it felt was better to let the child die "peacefully". I think that is MURDER! I think God gave the child life again... I think it was a miracle, and he squashed it - especially if he did smother him. The nurse they interviewed seemed very sincere. Very sad. If anything happened like that to my child or if I saw that, I don't know what I would do.


Something similar happened to me once. We had a baby born who was anacephalic. The intersting thing about this baby was she was alert needed not mechanical support of any kind. She was eating, breathing, alert and doing all the things a baby should do. Her life expectacy though was not good. She was to be transferred the next day to a more advanced facility. I took a break at one point in the evening and another nurse was caring for her. When I returned she was rocking her. I inquired as to how she was doing and the nurse said "oh she's fine." The nurse then leaned her forward and this baby was purple. We immediately called a code. This baby was not a DNR. Everyone arrived and was playing their part then , the anesthesiologist arrived and refused to help! Boy did it hit the fan in that nursery. Her attending Physician was furious (we were all furious). The Dr. was cited and ended up with some form of hospital discipline. This baby it ended up living 3 more days. She was transferred to the other faciliy along with her mother. Her parents came back and told us how greatful they were to have had those 3 days with her. They read to her, held her, sang to her prayed with her and even took her for a walk in a stroller and, they got to say goodbye. When this little angel finally died, it was in the loving arms of her mother. What was really a blessing is I had never seen these people in my life but, found out that we actually lived in the same small town about 30 miles away. After this happened I saw them all the time at the grocery, on walks,riding bikes ect....
 
  • #25
I was an OB nurse for many years and had something like this happen once. We had a women who was sent to us from the doctors office bacause they could not find fetal heart tones with a doppler or ultra sound machine. The baby had also not moved for several days. All of us were prepared for a still-birth. I don't remember the details of labor but, this baby was born (tight cord around his neck) he was not alive no heart beat, no respiration, nasty color. He was dead. We cleaned him up wrapped him in a blanket ect.... His parents held him. We then took him to another room while we were taking care of mom. The room was very quiet and sober when the nurses aide came in to get me her eyes big as saucers. I went out with her and she said "That baby is alive." I couldn't believe it(it had been 30-40 min). We went to the room and this babies color was better, he was breathing and had a slow heart rate. Needless to say we rushed him to the nursery to work with him. Might I add, we did not work with him very long and he was doing great. Baby was back with mom before she was out of recovery. It was surreal!!!!! What a Miracle!!!!

That's a beautiful story and you made me cry. How many years ago was that? I wonder how the little guy is doing now.

I always said I wanted to be cremated but I never thought about waking up as they wheel me into the incinerator. I'm going to ask to be embalmed and cremated to make sure I'm good and dead.
 
  • #26
That's a beautiful story and you made me cry. How many years ago was that? I wonder how the little guy is doing now.

I always said I wanted to be cremated but I never thought about waking up as they wheel me into the incinerator. I'm going to ask to be embalmed and cremated to make sure I'm good and dead.

It was about 10 years ago. Last I knew he was doing fine. Just like every other kid. I often wondered if there wouldn't be some learning disabilities.
 
  • #27
It was about 10 years ago. Last I knew he was doing fine. Just like every other kid. I often wondered if there wouldn't be some learning disabilities.

That is amazing. Makes you wonder huh...
 
  • #28
True. To be cremated they just attempt to keep the body looking good enough for one or two days of showing. My father and brother were cremated and my brother had a bullet in him since he was 15 that dr were afraid to movwe. In his ashes, no metal, no bullett. My father had a bridge and othe work. In his ashes nothing like that. I honestly believe thay just cremate and give a sample to you of whoever they cremated.

I disagree with you becklynn. My father had pins and plates in his ankle and his hip from previous injuries/surgeries. When he passed away in 2001, we had him cremated. The crematory actually asked my mom if she wanted the metal that was in his body.

My mother declined. LOL
 
  • #29
True. To be cremated they just attempt to keep the body looking good enough for one or two days of showing. My father and brother were cremated and my brother had a bullet in him since he was 15 that dr were afraid to movwe. In his ashes, no metal, no bullett. My father had a bridge and othe work. In his ashes nothing like that. I honestly believe thay just cremate and give a sample to you of whoever they cremated.


becklynn- I had a friend that worked in a mortuary several years ago. He told me that all cremations are done in the same "thing". (I don't know what it's called) Anyway he said that it is hardly ever cleaned and you do get the ashes of your loved one along with the ashes of other people.
 
  • #30
That is amazing. There was a huge medical law case over a physician who basically put a DNR order on an infant who - if I remember correctly (I watched it on TV) died of a SIDs case at home... it had been brought into the ER, where the hospital staff and a well known Pediatrician had attempted (unsuccessfully) to code the baby. The parents said their goodbyes to their child and left.
Apparently, the nurses walked in a short time later after the family left, to the place where baby had been kept for the family to view the body, and the baby was breathing and had a heartbeat - spontaneously. However, the breathing needed to be supported - this child was going to need supportive therapy if he was going to survive. But it was spontaneous!! Which - before - they had nothing spontaneous to work with upon arrival to the ER (my understanding from the show). The nurses immediately notified the Pediatrician, and ER staff began to code the baby again, and started to notify the family. However, the well known Pediatrician immediately put the squash on resusitative efforts on the baby - he told them NOT to code the baby, and told them NOT to tell the family what had happened or that they baby was breathing or having a heartbeat because and they had already "said goodbye" and because he thought that that was "cruel" and that the baby would most likely be brain damaged. Which, would be true... conventional wisdom would tell us that if blood supply is cut off to an individuals brain, either inside the womb or outside of it, then yes, usually, brain damange does occur. We have seen women who have abruptions who have severely brain damaged children and children who have very mild defect. It really varies. We have people who have completely coded (heart stops, they stop breathing) some have a large amount of brain damage, some have very little. It all is depends on how much or how little oxygen reaches the brain during those times. Very sad.

There were even allegations, I think, by one nurse that she stepped out of the room and left the baby alone with him while this was happening, and that when she stepped back in that he was smothering the child. It was VERY nasty. There was allegations that there was out and out arguing that night in the ER because the staff wanted to start coding the baby again when the baby started to spontaneously breath and have a heartbeat. Of course they wanted to save the child - or at least make a quick call to the family and ask them what to do for their son! That probably would have been the ethical thing to do.

The doctor was apparently was sited for unprofessional and unethical conduct, but never lost his license. The parents were of course, crushed. He continued to have a thriving pediatric practice. He stated that he felt that the child would have no quality of life, so he it felt was better to let the child die "peacefully". I think that is MURDER! I think God gave the child life again... I think it was a miracle, and he squashed it - especially if he did smother him. The nurse they interviewed seemed very sincere. Very sad. If anything happened like that to my child or if I saw that, I don't know what I would do.



I saw this story on tv and it made me very mad. He killed that baby and got away with it.
 
  • #31
True. To be cremated they just attempt to keep the body looking good enough for one or two days of showing. My father and brother were cremated and my brother had a bullet in him since he was 15 that dr were afraid to movwe. In his ashes, no metal, no bullett. My father had a bridge and othe work. In his ashes nothing like that. I honestly believe thay just cremate and give a sample to you of whoever they cremated.

They have to remove that stuff. The bullet especially could be dangerous.

When my grandfather was cremated we had to tell them about anything that wouldn't burn or could damage the crematorium. There was a long checklist with things like "bridge", "hip/knee replacements", "breast implants" etc. They also had records from hospice.

I was told by a funeral home worker that they brick off an area for each person, and then scoop out those ashes. They also might leave out something that wouldn't burn.
 
  • #32
Hmm. What if there is no medical examiner nearby? My area has a coroner. I think the present coroner is a plastic surgeon, which is better than it could be.......the law doesn't even require that the coroner have a medical
background!

Our laws (Louisiana, what can I say) also require that a body be embalmed before cremation.......oh, and you have to purchase a little 'cremation casket' too.

Oh my, kgeaux, you may be right. Sorry if I gave the wrong information. What I should have said is that in the US a medical representative such as EMT's, a med dr, etc have to confirm the death.

I live in VA and my mother passed away 2 months ago. My daddy wanted her cremated. I took care of all the arrangments and in VA we didn't have to have her embalmed. That does depend on the laws of the state you reside in.
 
  • #33
becklynn- I had a friend that worked in a mortuary several years ago. He told me that all cremations are done in the same "thing". (I don't know what it's called) Anyway he said that it is hardly ever cleaned and you do get the ashes of your loved one along with the ashes of other people.
Ok...now that was something that I DIDN'T need to know!:snooty: :(
 
  • #34
South City Mom-I thought of that story when I saw the news item about this.
How horrifying would that be for that to happen to someone? Anybody suspect that the guy will start carrying a card demanding to be double-checked before being declared dead?
 
  • #35
I'll bet the people in the morgue bring extra underwear after this!!!!!!!!!!
 

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