Woman ‘comes back from the dead’: Horrified crematorium worker finds 90-year-old still breathing in her body bag hours after she was declared dead by doctors in Brazil
- Norma was pronounced dead on Saturday but still breathing in a body bag
- She was returned to her ward but died in the early hours of Monday morning
A 90-year-old woman declared dead by doctors was found alive in a body bag by a shocked crematorium worker in Brazil.
Norma Silveira da Silva was still breathing when the shocked employee discovered her skin was still warm, hours after she was pronounced dead at 11:40 PM on November 25 at Sao Jose Regional Hospital in Greater Florianopolis.
Hospital officials told local media they are investigating how she was sent to the morgue while still alive – and left in the body bag for almost two hours before being found at 1:30 am on Sunday.
Norma sadly died in the early hours of Monday morning after being rushed back to her ward.
Caregiver Jessica Martins Silvi Pereira, 30, who went to the hospital with her, said Norma’s family now plans to sue the hospital. She said: ‘It’s a case of neglect that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.’
Photo shows Norma Silveira da Silva, 90, in hospital, undated
The Regional Hospital of Sao Jose, in Greater Florianopolis, Brazil, where Norma Silveira da Silva was found alive after being declared dead on Saturday
“I went to visit her on Saturday afternoon and she opened her eye,” Jessica told the locals media.
“She didn’t get much stimulation, but she managed to open her eye and saw we were there.”
But on Saturday evening the family received news that Norma had died.
Her first death certificate, dated November 25, lists the cause of death as an infection.
Jessica said the body was sent to the morgue without the family being able to see her.
She said the crematorium worker immediately saw that Norma was still alive and added: ‘When he opened the bag, she was breathing very weakly.
‘And because she was no longer conscious, she couldn’t ask for help, she tried to breathe, but she couldn’t.
“I mean, from 11:40 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. she was almost suffocated in the bag.”
According to Jessica, Norma’s family has still not been told what her cause of death was.
In the second death certificate issued, seen by locals mediathe document lists the cause of death as ‘septic shock’ caused by ‘sepsis with undefined focus’.
The photo shows Norma Silveira da Silva’s first death certificate, which listed her cause of death as an infection
According to local media reports, Brazil’s Medical Ethics Committee and the Death Commission will also investigate the case.
The Regional Council of Medicine of the State of Santa Catarina stated that it was “aware of the situation and will put in place appropriate procedures to monitor the case.”
Norma was cremated on November 27.