Woman Declared Dead by Police Turns Out to be Alive

Woman Declared Dead by Police Turns Out to be Alive

news.sympatico.ca

Police were called to a Day's Inn after a staff member found a woman in her room and thought she was dead. When police arrived they assumed it was a crime scene and determined the woman dead. They ...didn't allow other emergency workers or firefighters onto the scene.

Two hours later, forensic investigators found "faint vital signs" and she was rushed to hospital. Guelph police sergeant Doug Pflug said the woman did not appear to have suffered trauma and had non-life threatening injuries ...

(visit the link for the full news article)

How can something like this happen? The woman was in her own room, presumably safe.

So what's the take-home message here? Never sleep away from home? Don't get drunk and fight and sleep in motels? And never, ever meditate in motels?

How often does this sort of thing happen? How often does it happen, and not get discovered?

...It's straight out of a horror film, revived for the 21st century. Can't believe it's even possible.



news.sympatico.ca
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by soficrow


Well.. she had faint vital signs so something was wrong with her right?
They should have let a paramedic in to check though? I thought they had to at least call the morgue and have them pronounce her dead before they could do anything else?

reply to post by soficrow



I wonder if they found out she was still alive when they stuck thermometer in her butt to get a core body temperature, for time of death estimate?

That's creepy.

I seem to recall coffins with glass windows way back when, and in some cases bells that could be rung if an occupant suddenly came to in the middle of funeral.

Originally posted by GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by soficrow

 

Well.. she had faint vital signs so something was wrong with her right?

Maybe. But SHE WASN'T DEAD. And the hospital said she'd be fine.

Alcohol, sleeping pills, meditation - all lower heart rate, respiration, etc. Thank god they didn't pop her in the freezer until they could get to the body.

Well some years ago I was driving my cab and had a police officer on board and he told me that NO-ONE other than a qualified doctor could certify some-one dead even if you can see the head is several feet from the body, and at crime scenes they have to let medical personal into check and confirm that they are dead

Now that's just worrying.

I may have to start sleeping with a Granny Weatherwax sign clutched in my hands.

(for those who haven't read Discworld, "I int dead")

After reading the article, I have to wonder if the police suspected EMS personnel.
As I said, just wondering.

They had to have broken a few protocols here. They can't declare someone dead. And for them to have kept medical personnel away can't be right. Very sloppy indeed.

looks like some one goofed, i hate it when police think they are the final authority on anything. how could they not let paramedics look at her? this is all just bad police work.

Considering the number of locales looking to give police the "power" to take blood at a checkpoint....this story of their inability to determine whether someone is alive is truly scary!

Hell, if you can't even tell if an individual is alive, how the hell are you going take blood? Even if the pulse was incredibly weak, a knowledgeable person would have detected it.

reply to post by daddysreturn


There are times when even "qualified" doctors fail at this as well. It is rare but it does happen. Some people "wake up" or show signs of life just before embalming begins.

Sometimes signs of life are so faint they are very hard to detect.

Police are not trained well enough to establish life or death. It is better to wait for a doctor to call it, at least then there is a better shot at them being right. Not sure what caused them to not allow medical personnel to check the girl beforehand.


Raist

I wonder if the woman is my ex girlfriend? Alot of times when we were being amorous you really couldn't tell if she was really alive or not.

Seriously, I too wonder how no one actually checked the woman in the articles vital signs. Isn't that standard procedure? I'm no doctor, but even I would check vital signs in the vague hope that resuscitation was possible. I mean wouldn't a hint be that she wasn't cold and stiffening from the early onset of rigor mortis?

Before you know it they will have to start attaching bells to coffins again. I feel like this is more of a dark ages problem? I just wish I could have been there for the moment they discovered she was still alive. What do you say when you discover you "dead body" is still breathing two hours after initial discovery? "My bad"?

thats hard to believe something like that can happen i would have thought vitals would be the first thing to be established.even if they think its a crime scene.

Originally posted by SpunGCake
thats hard to believe something like that can happen i would have thought vitals would be the first thing to be established.even if they think its a crime scene.

For that they'd have had to let EMTs in, I mean most cops just get a basic first aid and cpr course.

The cops "secured" what they though might be a crime scene, meanwhile sleeping beauty gives all the clues that she is post-mortem.

I would like to know what her diagnosis is.

What could simulate death so thoroughly? Without a doubt, at least one of the police had to have had some experience with dead people, you'd think?

I had a team of doctors certify me as being dead on the table, no pulse, no heartbeat, no respiration, and they were preparing to tag me so I could be taken to the morgue; 33 minutes later my heart started beating again and all my vitals came back up; without being examined by medical personel, she could have been dead and then came back; it does happen...


seeker

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


They get a core body temp from the liver, not your but

Not sure about the guidelines in the US but here in the UK only Paramedics and doctors can declare someone dead unless the following is relevant:

All the conditions, listed below, are unequivocally associated with death in ALL age groups.

1. Massive cranial and cerebral destruction
2. Hemicorporectomy
3. Massive truncal injury incompatible with life
including decapitation
4. Decomposition/putrefaction
5. Incineration
6. Hypostasis
7. Rigor mortis

Decapitation: Self evidently incompatible with life.
Massive cranial and cerebral destruction:
Where the injuries are considered by the ambulance
clinician to be incompatible with life.
Hemicorporectomy (or similar massive injury):
Where the injuries are considered by the ambulance
clinician to be incompatible with life.
Decomposition/putrefaction: Where tissue damage
indicates that the patient has been dead for some hours,
days or longer.
Incineration: The presence of full thickness burns
with charring of greater than 95% of the body surface.
Hypostasis: The pooling of blood in congested
vessels in the dependent part of the body in the position
in which it lies after death.
Rigor mortis: The stiffness occurring after death
from the post mortem breakdown of enzymes in the
muscle fibre.

In all other cases resuscitation must be commenced and the facts pertaining to the arrest must be established.
Following arrival and the recognition of pulselessness and apnoea (in the presence of a patent airway), chest compression and ventilations should be commenced whilst the facts of the collapse are ascertained.

Sorry to go a little off topic here but I cannot see how a Police officer can A, Declare someone Dead and B, Stop Emergency Medical Personnel from checking the 'body'

I have a duty of care (Ambulance tech by the way) that unless any of the above are present I must proceed with CPR.

Something certainly not right here. As Above, sorry for all the medical stuff above but to declare someone dead is not just a case of "Nope No Pulse - They Dead!! "

am i just retarded or did they ever say what actually was wrong with her in the first place?