Double dead: 92-year-old German woman wakes up inside refrigerated room in funeral home; dies 2 days later due to heart disease

Waking up inside a refrigerated room of a funeral home is enough to scare a person to death. But a 92-year-old German woman who had that terrifying experience in March managed to scream to alert employees that she is still alive.

The woman’s caregiver found her with no pulse and breath at the retirement home. A doctor declared dead the old lady, who was seriously ill, prompting the retirement home staff to send the woman’s body to the funeral home, reports The New York Post. The doctor admits she possibly misdiagnosed the patient as dead because of the lack of breath and pulse.

Fortunately, an employee at the funeral home heard her scream and let her out of the refrigerated room. She was sent to a hospital for treatment.

The discovery led to the filing of negligent bodily charges against the 53-year-old doctor who pronounced the old woman dead. Birgit Juergens, the Essen prosecutor, said on Tuesday that the physician could face a fine or jail term if convicted.

But being old and sickly, the woman died two days after the incident in a hospital. She succumbed to a heart ailment that was not related to what happened to her in the funeral home.

Newsmax cites that a similar incident happened on May 19 in Milwaukee when emergency staff declared 46-year-old Thomas Sancomb dead after rescuers found the man face down and not responding to treatment in his bedroom. However, after 45 minutes, Sancomb started to move his left arm and right leg and showed a heart rate, sparing him from being sent to a morgue, reports WITI-TV.

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