Two days ago, on a fateful 13th of June, Bella Montoya was declared dead after a suspected stroke.
The 76 year old retired nurse had been taken to the hospital in Babahoyo at 9:00 AM by her son, and was declared dead by a doctor at noon, after appearing unresponsive to resuscitation efforts. As is the norm, a death certificate was issued immediately issued – stating that she had suffered cardiopulmonary arrest after suffering a stroke, in fact a common cause of death.
Montoya was then transported to a funeral parlour, which her relatives visited for a vigil approximately five hours after her arrival, in order to dress her and arrange her appearance for the upcoming burial.
When they opened the coffin, the viewers experienced utter shock.
„My mum started to move her left hand, to open her eyes, her mouth; she struggled to breathe”, her son Gilbert Balberán said.
Video taken by a mourner shows her lying in an open coffin struggling to breathe, while another complains that an ambulance they called has not yet arrived.
Minutes later, firefighters arrived and lifted the poor woman onto a stretcher, taking her right back to the hospital where she had been declared dead.
In a video taken as soon as she was discovered breathing, the open coffin sat in a small light blue room with a crucifix and several lights. Montoya laid in the coffin wrapped in several different colorful blankets and breathed heavily, with her mouth opening and closing in quick succession, reports People.
Her son told Ecuadorean media that she was in intensive care, but was responsive despite her critical condition.
„My mum is on oxygen, her heart is stable. The doctor pinched her hand and she reacted, they tell me that’s good because it means she is reacting little by little”, El Universo reports.
The BBC cautions that Bella Montoya is not the only person to „come alive” after being officially declared dead. Dr Stephen Hughes, a senior lecturer in medicine at Anglia Ruskin University’s School of Medicine in Chelmsford, says such cases are very uncommon but he points out that „death is a process”, and this is why careful examination is imperative to confirming death.
Ecuador’s health ministry has set up a committee to investigate the incident, as well as the procedure through which the hospital emits death certificates.
Leaving aside the story’s shocking aspects, the incident raises important questions about the healthcare system – Ecuadorian? Global and contemporary? A simple human error with serious consequences, a disastrous mistake due to confounding factors, or symptomatic of a deeply diseases work mechanism? Or maybe all those things at the same time…
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