Woman, 46, wakes up in a body bag at Paraguay funeral home after doctors believed she was dead
A WOMAN was declared dead only to then wake up in a body bag after being taken to a funeral home.
Gladys Rodriguez de Duarte was presumed dead at a private clinic in Coronel Oviedo, Paraguay.
Funeral home workers noticed the 46-year-old was still alive while she was lying in the morgue, reports Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color.
She is now being treated in intensive care where she is described as being in a “delicate but stable” condition.
Gladys - a cancer patient - was taken to the San Fernando clinic at 9.30am on Saturday with blood pressure problems.
She was reportedly treated by Dr Heriberto Vera, who then at 11.20am declared that she was dead.
The family were handed a death certificate which gave her cancer as the cause of death.
Undertakers from the Duarte e Hijos funeral home then came and collected what they presumed to be a corpse.
And once they returned to the parlour, they realised Gladys was actually still alive, according to a police report.
Gladys’ husband Maximino Duarte Ferreira has reportedly filed a complaint against the doctor.
He claimed the medic no longer wanted to treat her, so decided to declare her dead.
Gladys is now undergoing treatment in intensive care in a hospital after first being taken from the morgue to the Institute of Social Security.
Dr Catalino Fabio said she remains in a stable condition in hospital after her ordeal.
Prosecutors have opened a case against the doctor who declared the woman dead.
Paraguayan television network TV Aire reports Gladys’ daughter Sandra has slammed the doctor.
She said: “We trusted him, that's why we went there.
"But they disconnected her and passed her off to the funeral home.”
'LIKE AN ANIMAL'
Sandra added: “He assumed she was dead and handed her naked to me like an animal with her death certificate.
"He didn't even revive her."
Dr Fabio said: “According to Dr Vera she had no pulse at around 11am last Saturday and the lungs were no longer active.
“He tried to revive her, but it was unsuccessful.”
The medic suggested Gladys may have suffered catalepsy - a condition where the body seizes up and slows down functions like breathing.
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Reportedly, one of the prosecutors in the case has had to step down as it emerged she was married to Dr Vera.
It comes after reports of a “miracle man” last year who died for 21 minutes before coming back to life in a morgue.
A meanwhile a woman declared dead after a crash was found to be alive in a morgue fridge when medics spotted her breathing in 2018.