After 'dead' man comes back to life in Mumbai, doctors and cops play blame game

In a bizarre incident, a man declared dead by a hospital’s officials ‘came alive’ moments before his autopsy in Mumbai.

A homeless man (estimated to be between 45 and 50 years of age), identified only as Prakash, was brought to Sion Hospital on Monday by policemen who insisted he was dead. He was sent to the mortuary for an autopsy. An attendant at the mortuary later realised that the man was alive after he detected some movement, reports Hindustan Times .

The man was bought by the police on receiving a call about a man lying unconscious at the ST bus depot at Sulochna Shetty Marg.

While the police blames the doctor who attended to the patient, the hospital said it was the cops who had put pressure on the doctor to do a rushed job, as they were supposed to go for bandobast duty for the prime minister’s visit, reports Mid Day .

NDTV reports insiders saying that the ‘dead’ man woke up during the ensuing commotion, just as the staffers went to inform the casualty ward about their discovery.

According to the police, the doctor immediately destroyed all records of the incident in an effort to cover up his mistake, states  another Mid-Day report .

In response, the hospital dean said it was not uncommon for doctors to miss the pulse of a patient — particularly if the patient was in a state of shock or trauma.

Blaming the police for the error, Suleman Merchant, dean of the hospital said in an interview with Hindustan Times , “Our casualty medical officer got intimidated by the police presence. The police kept telling the doctor that the patient was dead, and insisted he certify him urgently.”

Not entirely unexpectedly, this is not the first time such an incident has occurred.

In January this year, a man in China, believed by doctors to have died after falling over while smoking a cigarette, allegedly came back to life and cried at his own funeral. Guo Liu, 45, collapsed while out with friends in the eastern Chinese province of Hubei. He was subsequently declared dead, but when people noticed tears rolling out his eyes at his funeral, he was rushed to the hospital, reports the Metro .