It's pretty much the thing nightmares are made of: A woman dies, the "second time", of heart failure--after going into shock from waking up at her own funeral service. The Russia woman had been lying in a coffin when her eyes opened and she subsequently went into shock over the realization she was about to be buried alive.
Grieving relatives and friends had surrounded the coffin of Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov to pray, when the 49-year-old Russian woman came to -- understanding she was about to be buried. After waking up screaming at the funeral, the woman was immediately rushed to the hospital. But it was too late. She was declared dead after dying the "second" time from a suspected heart attack.
Her husband, whom had attended the funeral, says: "Her eyes fluttered and we immediately rushed her back to the hospital. But she only lived another 12 minutes before she died again, this time for good." Understandably, the Russian woman's husband is less than happy -- with plans to sue the hospital: "I am very angry and want some answers. She wasn't dead when they said she was and they could have saved her," says her spouse. Also understandably, the hospital isn't talking.
As weird as it sounds for someone to wake up at their own funeral, it does happen -- just not so much in the United States.
Just last December an 88-year-old Brazilian woman died just two days after she'd been first announced dead -- also waking up while lying in a coffin. On December 22 -- right before Christmas -- she'd been sent to a funeral home. She was rushed back to intensive care unit at a hospital in Ipatinga, north of Rio de Janeiro.
In August of 2009, A baby who had been declared dead by Paraguay doctors woke up during its own funeral wake -- basically, just in time to enter life. Born a preemie,16 weeks premature, the baby had been pronounced dead at a hospital in Paraguay.
Paraguay docs say the baby hadn't moved at birth -- had barely had any respiratory reflexes and a heartbeat that couldn't be detected. Perhaps the "barely there" respiratory reflexes may have been the clue.
The baby's family had already been sent home with a death certificate and cardboard box, meant to serve as an interim coffin for the baby's body. As family prepared for the infant's funeral wake and opened the box to take out the baby, the preemie began crying -- moving arms and legs. That's when surprise number two came: The hospital that had told family they had a deceased baby girl discovered that, in fact, they had a live baby boy.
The Paraguay hospital opened an investigation to determine if there was negligence by medical staff. Deemed negligent or not, once a hospital has incorrectly labeled a live baby as dead, and incorrectly identified the sex, there's an obvious issue. Perhaps not exactly the destination for a return visit.
It's not just humans that have woken from the dead: Yelm, Washington, saw a puppy dog that had been fatally hit in a car accident alive again after the body had been prepared for burial the following morning.
For those worried about the possibility of being buried alive, there's a 'how-to' guide of sorts: "How to Survive Being Buried Alive in a Coffin" which includes the number one tip for loved ones -- include a cell phone (with a good battery life) in that casket. Don't forget about a decent service provider. T-Mobile probably ain't gonna cut it. If you're the one in the coffin, hope for cheap relatives: flimsy caskets are supposedly much easier to bust out of, in case of emergency.