'Dead man' who came alive at hospital mortuary dies

Mumbai, Oct 14: A 50-year-old man who was mistakenly declared dead by doctors but was found to be alive when brought to mortuary of a hospital here on Sunday, died on Tuesday night.

According to sources at the civic body-run Sion Hospital, after realising that the man, identified as Prakash, was alive, he was shifted to ICU, however he didn't survive for long.

The case unfolded on Sunday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to address an event in the city and there was a heavy police security and patrolling on city roads. The police on patrolling duty near the hospital found Prakash "dead" and took to the hospital.

Dr Suleman Merchant, dean of the hospital, had said at a press conference that "when the patient was brought in, he was on a stretcher and his face and ear were infested with maggots which are normally found in decomposed bodies. He was apparently picked up from a bus stop at Sion.

"During preliminary checking his pulse and heartbeat were found missing completely, additionally the policemen who brought the patient reaffirmed saying that they have brought a dead body, which could have led the doctors to believe that the patient was dead," Merchant had added.

But a mortuary attendant found signs of life in him, and informed the doctors. Finding him alive, doctors shifted him to the hospital's intensive care unit, where he died yesterday.

PTI