An Ecuadorian woman who gave her family the fright of their lives after her death earlier this month by knocking on her coffin during the wake, has died after seven days in intensive care. The family announced this on Saturday.
Gilberto Barbera Montoya, the son of retired nurse Bella Montoya, told the AP news agency his mother was alive for almost a week after being rushed back to the state hospital. She passed away on Friday night.
Ecuador’s Ministry of Health confirmed in a statement that Bella Montoya died of a stroke after spending a week in intensive care. It added that Montoya had remained under “permanent supervision” but gave no further information about the medical investigation surrounding the case.
Montoya had been hospitalized the previous week with a possible stroke and cardiac arrest. When she failed to respond to CPR, a doctor on duty pronounced her dead. The family then took her to a funeral home in Babahoyo and were standing by her coffin hours later when strange noises came from the coffin.
Formal complaint
Barbera Montoya said he has not yet received a report from the authorities on the medical explanation of the remarkable events. He warned that the family will not just leave it at that. A sister of the deceased woman has filed a formal complaint about the incident, seeking to identify the doctor who initially pronounced her dead.
Montoya’s body has since been returned to the same funeral home where she awoke. Her son said she will be buried in a public cemetery.
A technical committee has been formed to look into how the hospital was able to issue the death certificate, the health ministry said last week. Media in Ecuador speculate that the woman had catalepsy. In addition, muscle stiffening occurs in the body and bodily functions – including breathing – and consciousness are at a reduced level. In severe cases, the symptoms can be so strong that the patient appears to have died.
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