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US News

Crematorium worker finds 90-year-old woman alive after being pronounced dead

By
Snejana Farberov
Published Nov. 30, 2023, 2:58 p.m. ET

A crematorium worker in Brazil got the shock of his life when he went to a hospital morgue to collect the body of a deceased 90-year-old woman, only to find that she was still alive, according to reports.

The nightmarish incident occurred in the city of São José on Saturday, just hours after staff at the hospital pronounced Norma Silveira da Silva dead.

The woman was zipped into a body bag and sent down to the morgue, where the unsuspecting undertaker made the chilling discovery.

The nonagenarian was taken back to a hospital room, but she was verifiably dead Monday morning.

Da Silva’s caretaker and friend Jessica Martins Silvi Pereira told the Brazilian news outlet Estadão that the 90-year-old had been admitted to São José Regional Hospital on Friday in very poor condition. She was said to be suffering from a problem with her liver and was unconscious.

Norma Silveira da Silva, 90, was found alive inside the morgue of the Sao Jose Regional Hospital, in Greater Florianopolis, Brazil, after being declared dead on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023.
Norma Silveira da Silva, 90, was found alive inside the morgue of the Sao Jose Regional Hospital, in Greater Florianopolis, Brazil. Newsflash

Pereira visited her on Saturday afternoon and said da Silva managed to open one eye and see her.

Later that night, the caretaker and da Silva’s son were notified of her supposed death.

The first death certificate for da Silva, which was issued by the hospital at 11:40 p.m., claimed that the woman had succumbed to a “urinary tract infection.”

Pereira said the woman’s body was hastily sent off to the morgue without allowing her loved ones a chance to see her first.

The crematorium staffer who went to collect the deceased patient around 1:30 a.m. opened the bag and noticed that da Silva’s body was still warm and not yet showing rigor mortis, which was surprising given the amount of time that had elapsed, said Pereira. 

Hospital Regional de São José.
Da Silva was zipped into a body bag and sent down to the morgue at Hospital Regional de São José. Google Street View

“When he opened the bag, she was breathing very weakly. And, as she was no longer conscious, she couldn’t ask for help, she tried to breathe and couldn’t,” the pal told the news site NaTelinha.

Pereira said her elderly friend had spent nearly two hours inside the sealed bag “almost suffocating to death.”

It was not immediately clear if da Silva ultimately died from not receiving medical treatment in time — or from an underlying condition.

After the 90-year-old was pronounced dead a second time, her new death certificate issued just before 5 a.m. listed her cause of death as “septic shock.”

Pereira said the patient’s family is planning to sue the hospital.

“It’s a neglect that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” she said.

The state Department of Health has launched an investigation into the incident.