'Dead' Man Found 'wiggling' in Body Bag by Grieving Brother Hours Before Funera

katzmeow · #1 ● 08-28-2014, 11:49 AM

A GRIEVING brother was shocked to discover his "deceased" sibling "wiggling" inside a sealed body bag in a hospital's morgue, just hours before his funeral was due to start. Valdelucio Goncalves, 54 - who was pronounced dead by medical staff the previous evening - had had his feet tied and nose and ears stuffed with cotton wool, before being wheeled into the hospital morgue in a body bag.

It was only the next morning, when Valdelucio's brother Walterio went to dress the body in preparation for his funeral, that the nightmarish blunder was finally reported.
Walterio explained: "We had already made all the arrangements for my brother's funeral. All I needed to do was put some new clothes on him, so he'd be ready for the undertaker to come and collect him.

"Workers at the morgue let me in, and showed me where he was lying, in a zipped-up body bag.
"But as I got closer I could see it wriggling".
When the brother moved towards the slab he saw that his brother's "dead" body was slowly rising and falling – as if he was breathing.
The shocked sibling sounded the alarm and called in the mistaken medical staff – who had assured him that his brother had kicked the bucket less than 24 hours earlier.
They then confirmed that Valdelucio was still alive, before they swiftly moved him to the hospital's intensive care unit.

Walterio said: "I went crazy and shouted for the medical team, the nurse, so they could see what was happening. They checked him and confirmed that he was still alive".

Valdelucio was first taken to the Menandro de Farias General Hospital in Salvador, northeast Brazil, for stomach cancer treatment after he awoke on the morning of Saturday August 23 complaining of breathing problems.
His niece, Patricia Cintra, said: "We were worried about him and thought he'd be better off in hospital, that they'd take better care of him that we could at home.
"It was a shock to all of us when they called to tell us he'd passed away. But we started making the funeral arrangements.
"By Sunday morning everything was sorted. We'd paid for his death notice in a newspaper, bought the coffin and booked his funeral.
"His feet had already been tied together and his nose and ears stuffed with cotton wool."
At the request of the bewildered family, Valdelucio was transferred to another hospital, Santo Antonio in Salvador, yesterday.

Valdelucio described in a letter how he believes he was brought back from the dead by Brazil's revered saint Blessed Irma Dulce.
He wrote: "I, Valdelucio, saw death at my feet, but my faith was so great that I was cured.
"Before Irma Dulce I said, do a miracle in me, and she heard my prayer.
"I saw my mother telling me, son, hold onto her and you will be saved".
Bahia state's health department has now opened an inquiry into the hospital blunder.

Hospital director Margarida Mirando said in a statement that she "will meet with the whole team involved in the patient's care to clarify the chain of events which allowed this to happen".