Death defied
Friend of the blog Josh tips us off that sometimes word of our demise may be, in fact, premature.
An 82-year-old woman was pronounced dead at a New York nursing home only to be found breathing three hours later at the funeral home where she had been taken, authorities said.
It was the second time in about a month something of the sort has happened in the US, according to officials.
The first time was a lady in Iowa.
More than funeral homes, it is more common that premature death pronouncements issue forth from official agencies thanks to, let us say, clerical oversight. At least this experience spares you the visit to the mortuary. But life in limbo may not be entirely pleasant, either.
For people like Ellen Baron, one giant mistake immediately multiplies and it happens fast. By this time, her bank account had been frozen, her pharmacy plan canceled, Medicare benefits ceased, Blue Cross Blue Shield is dropped, and the state asks for her last pension check since it went out after she was declared dead.
Without insurance or health benefits she can't go to her doctor's appointments.
The article goes on to point out this happens βonlyβ around 7,000 times a year at the Social Security Administration. Which I suppose is a bit reassuring. Youβre more likely to be declared dead by accident than struck dead by lightning. Or struck rich by lottery win.
Come to think, by adding over 7,000 souls to the official undead each year, this may be how we wind up staging a real-world zombie apocalypse.
My Mom (died 2005) was one of those. Dad was driving her back from Indy to Muncie, when she had a heart attack, or something. He raced into the ER, told them, they came out and took her in. The ER doctor was a HS classmate of my middle sister. 20 minutes later he called her to tell her Mom didn't make it.
30 minutes later, on her own she revised. He had to call her back. We all had begun driving in, so we continued in, and he had to tell us that ummm, she was just mostly dead, not all dead. He apologized, but I told him
"π°π'π ππππ, π΄ππ πππππ ππππππππ ππ πππ π ππππππ ππππππ". He was not amused, for some reason.
She died 4 days later, but never gained consciousness. My youngest older sister was on vacation in the Carribean, making it back just hours before she died.
Mom wasn't gonna die until she said it was time, to hell with those doctors and such.
Thatβs a logistical nightmare. I just need to understand how this happens. Life seems easy to identify!