Ecuadorean woman who revived during her wake is dead after a week in intensive care at a hospital
A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead and surprised relatives by knocking on her coffin when she woke up earlier this month, has died after seven days in intensive care.
QUITO, Ecuador — A 76-year-old woman who was declared dead and surprised relatives by knocking on her coffin when she woke up earlier this month has died after seven days in intensive care, her family said on Saturday.
Gilberto Barbera Montoya, the woman’s son, told the AP news agency that doctors at the state hospital where she was treated after the incident said she passed away Friday night.
The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health confirmed in a statement that Bella Montoya died of an ischemic stroke after a week in intensive care. It added that Montoya remained under “regular surveillance,” but did not provide further information about the medical investigation surrounding the case.
Barbera Montoya said that he has yet to receive any reports from the authorities for a medical explanation of what happened and warned that things “won’t go on like this.” He added that a sister of the deceased woman had officially filed a complaint about the incident, seeking to identify the doctor who declared her dead in the first place.
Bella Montoya is said to have woken up and started knocking on the door on June 9 after spending five hours inside her coffin at a funeral home in Babahoyo, about 208 kilometers southwest of the capital Quito. .
The remains of Montoya, a retired nurse, were brought back to the funeral home where she awoke. Her son told the AP that she would be buried in a public cemetery.
A technical committee has been set up to review how hospitals issue death certificates, the country’s health ministry said last week.
