A ‘Dead’ Woman Came Back to Life During Her Wake

Hours after his mother was declared dead, Gilbert Balberán heard a strange sound coming from her casket, so he decided to look inside.

“My mom began moving her left hand, opening her eyes, her mouth,” Balberán told Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo. “She was struggling to breathe.”

Video shot by the woman’s family shows the aftermath of the shocking discovery that 76-year-old Bella Montoya was actually alive inside the coffin, gasping for air. The elderly woman spent over four hours on June 9 inside the casket after doctor’s incorrectly declared her dead from a suspected stroke earlier that day. 

The colossal mistake by doctors came after Balberán took his mother to the Martín Icaza Hospital in the central Ecuadorian city of Babahoyo in the early hours of Friday morning. By 9am, she was declared dead and her body returned to the family around noon.

“They even gave us a death certificate,” said Balberán.

When she was discovered to still be alive, the family quickly called for medical support, and she was returned to the same hospital, although Montoya is being treated by a different doctor. She remains in critical condition, but has shown signs of improvement, her son said.

“My mom is on oxygen. Her heart is stable. The doctor pinched her hand and she reacted,” said Balberán. “They tell me that this is good, because it means that she is reacting little by little.”

The Ecuador Public Health Ministry said on Sunday that it intends “to analyze this case deeply” and has formed a national technical committee that “will initiate a medical audit to establish responsibilities in the face of the supposed confirmation of death.”

The authorities offered some background on how the error happened, saying that Montoya received a “presumptive diagnosis of a cerebrovascular accident and she had a cardiorespiratory arrest without responding to resuscitation maneuvers, for which the doctor on duty confirmed her death.”

Balberán reportedly told El Universo that the family is unsure if they will attempt any legal recourse against the doctor who declared their mother dead, and are instead focused on her recovery.