Bella Montoya Ecuador woman declared dead comes back to life during her own wake as medical condition, catalepsy is cited.
A miracle from God? A 76 year old woman is reported to have ‘come back to life’ hours after a doctor had declared her dead at a hospital in Ecuador.
Bella Montoya fell ill at her home on Friday and was taken to Martín Icaza Hospital in the province of Babahoyo, Los Rios.
Her son, Gilbert Balberán, told El Universo she was admitted at 9am and was pronounced dead at 12pm after she had suffered a stroke.
‘Her left hand was hitting the side of the coffin’
Montoya spent four hours inside the casket and was about to have a change of clothes at a funeral home where her viewing was going to be held when her family noticed that she showed signs of life around 8:50pm.
‘My mother started to move the left hand, open her eyes, the mouth,’ Balberán told the Ecuador outlet. ‘She was making an effort to breathe.’
‘Her left hand was hitting the side of the coffin, and it was shaking,’ the son added.
Footage showed Balberán instructing a person to call 911 as he and another person placed their hands around her head and left arm.
Montoya is seen struggling to breathe and moving her jaw.
Moments later, paramedics arrived and placed the woman’s body on a stretcher before rushing her to Martín Icaza Hospital, where she was placed under intensive care.
‘The doctor at noon told me that my mother was dead was not at the facility. Another one saw me and he gave her oxygen, they intubated her and took her to an (ICU) room where she is under observation,’ he said.
Appearing non responsive and not responding to stimuli
Balberán explained his mother suffered from hypertension and heart problems, and reportedly had a stroke early Friday morning.
‘My mum is on oxygen. Her heart is stable. The doctor pinched her hand, and she reacted; they tell me that is a good sign because it means she is slowly responding,’ the woman’s son said.
Medical experts reached by El Universo believe Montoya was in a state of catalepsy.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, it is ‘a condition characterized by inactivity, decreased responsiveness to stimuli, and a tendency to maintain an immobile posture.’
States one source on the web: Catalepsy involves a loss of voluntary motion, muscle rigidity, fixed posture, and decreased sensitivity to pain. It is a symptom of a number of conditions including epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, substance use, catatonia, schizophrenia, and as a side effect of some types of medication used to treat schizophrenia.
Persons experiencing this condition, they seem non-responsive and do not respond to speech.
The death certificate noted the 76 year old woman’s death was caused by ‘cardiorespiratory arrest due to suffering from an unspecified cerebrovascular disease.’
Balberán is expected to file an incident report with the local prosecutor’s office Monday and accuse Martīn Icaza Hospital of negligence.
Explained the son, ‘I am slowly coming to terms with what has happened. Now, I only ask for my mother’s health to improve. I want her to be alive and by my side.’
Adding, ‘It was a miracle from God.’
The episode is not the first time that a person has been determined to be have previously died only to be found alive at their own funeral.
Officials at Martín Icaza Hospital had yet to address the incident as of Monday.
