Doctor in Brazil sends patient to morgue a bit too soon

RIO DE JANEIRO—A Brazilian woman in her 60s being treated in hospital for pneumonia was given up for dead by her attending physician, and sent to the morgue too soon, O Globo newspaper reported Sunday.

The doctor felt no vital signs, ran tests and pronounced her dead. She was sent to the morgue and spent at least two hours in a plastic body bag.

“I went to give my mom one last hug, and I could feel that she was breathing. I screamed out — my mom is alive! And they all looked at me like I was crazy,” Rosangela Celestrino, the patient’s daughter, told the paper.

“Not only did I have to go collect my mom from a cold storage drawer at the morgue, but when I got there, I find her still breathing,” Celestrino went on.

Hospital officials said the patient, Rosa Celestrino de Assis, had two strokes and had been on assisted breathing. At 7:30 pm local time Friday, a nurse phoned the attending doctor because she did not show vital signs. The doctor confirmed her death and sent her to the morgue.

Hospital director Manoel Moreira Filho said the mistake was identified at about 10:00 pm, and the patient was immediately intubated and put back on life support.