In a shocking incident from the Czech Republic, an 88-year-old woman, initially declared dead, was discovered to be alive as she was being placed in a coffin. The woman’s husband had found her unresponsive in bed and called emergency services, fearing the worst. He reported that she was not moving or breathing, leading paramedics to confirm her death upon their arrival.
Following the paramedics’ assessment, coroners were dispatched to the couple’s apartment. They too confirmed the woman’s death, and undertakers were subsequently called to transfer the body into a coffin. However, as the undertakers were preparing to move the body, they made a startling discovery. The woman, previously thought to be dead, showed signs of life.
The husband recounted the chilling incident, stating that the undertakers had discovered his wife was alive as they were about to move her body from their apartment. An ambulance was immediately called, and the woman was rushed to the hospital.
While this incident may seem like a scene from a horror movie, it is not entirely unheard of in medical history. The Cleveland Clinic refers to this rare medical phenomenon as the Lazarus Effect, named after the biblical story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This usually occurs after a patient has been clinically pronounced dead following a cardiac arrest and the cessation of CPR.
The Lazarus Effect is characterized by the patient showing signs of life sometime after being declared dead. These signs of life must persist for more than a few seconds to be considered a manifestation of the Lazarus Effect.
According to the National Institutes of Health, there have been 74 confirmed cases of the Lazarus Effect in the U.S. between 1982 and 2022. The exact cause or reasons behind this rare medical phenomenon remain unknown.