‘Dead’ man in India wakes up minutes before autopsy

The man, who was later identified as Prakash, was brought to the hospital after the Sion police received a call about an old man lying unconscious at the ST bus depot at Sulochna Shetty Marg.

A man, presumed dead and brought to a mortuary in the Indian city of Mumbai on Sunday, gave the facility’s staff a considerable shock when he woke up a few minutes before they were about to conduct a postmortem examination. He was subsequently declared dead, but when people noticed tears rolling out his eyes at his funeral, he was rushed to the hospital, reports the Metro.

Dr Suleman Merchant, the dean of the hospital, said: “We have reprimanded the doctor and have told him that in such cases the body must be kept in the casualty ward for a cooling off period of two hours”.

According to the police, the doctor immediately destroyed all records of the incident in an effort to cover up his mistake, states another Mid-Day report.

Lokmanya Tilak General Hospital’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Rohan Rohekar is reported to have earlier told staff to take the body directly to the morgue – which is against hospital policy.

“Maggots eat human tissues”.

“The patient was on a stretcher and his face and ear were infested with maggots, usually seen in decomposed bodies”, adding that the man’s pulse and heartbeat were absent and was showing fixed dilated pupils, which is “common in patients who are close to death”. “He must have been lying around for at least six or seven days”, said Dr Merchant.

The man has been treated in the hospital for substance abuse and severe malnutrition, suspected alcoholism, Merchant said.

The man is said to be recuperating in intensive care and the hospital is deciding on protocol to ensure this does not happen in the future.