• A 27-year-old man in the
UK collapsed after overdosing on
heroin and
cocaine.
Paramedics gave him a
naloxone injection, and he recovered enough to walk to the ambulance. He went into
cardiac arrest in transit. After 25 minutes of resuscitation efforts, the patient was verbally declared dead. About a minute after resuscitation ended, a nurse noticed a rhythm on the heart monitor and resuscitation was resumed. The patient recovered fully. • Judith Johnson, 61, went into cardiac arrest at
Beebe Medical Center in
Lewes, Delaware, United States, in May 2007. She was given "multiple medicines and synchronized shocks", but never regained a pulse. She was declared dead at 8:34p.m. but was later discovered to be alive and breathing. She sued the medical center where it happened for damages due to physical and neurological problems stemming from the event. • A 45-year-old woman in
Colombia was pronounced dead, as there were no vital signs showing she was alive. Later, a funeral worker noticed the woman moving and alerted his co-worker that the woman should go back to the hospital. • A 65-year-old man in
Malaysia regained vital signs two-and-a-half hours after doctors at Seberang Jaya Hospital,
Penang, pronounced him dead. He died three weeks later. • Anthony Yahle, 37, in
Bellbrook, Ohio, United States, was breathing abnormally at 4:00a.m. on 5August 2013, and could not be woken. After finding that Yahle had no pulse, first responders administered CPR and were able to retrieve a stable-enough heartbeat to transport him to the emergency room. Later that afternoon, he again suffered cardiac arrest for 45 minutes at
Kettering Medical Center and was pronounced dead after all efforts to resuscitate him failed. When his son arrived at the hospital to visit his supposed-to-be deceased father, he noticed a heartbeat on the monitor that was still attached to his father. Resuscitation efforts were resumed, and Yahle was successfully revived. • Walter Williams, 78, from
Lexington, Mississippi, United States, was at home when his hospice nurse called a coroner who arrived and declared him dead at 9:00p.m. on 26February 2014. Once at a funeral home, he was found to be moving, possibly resuscitated by a defibrillator implanted in his chest. The next day he was well enough to be talking with family, but died fifteen days later. • Siti Masfufah Wardah, 12, from
Probolinggo,
Indonesia, was declared dead from chronic
diabetes with organ complications. After being taken to her home, she was found with her eyes open by her parents who immediately called a medical professional. After her initial recovery she died one hour later. • Timesha Beauchamp, 20, from Southfield, Michigan, United States, was declared dead by a doctor on August23, 2020 after 30 minutes of resuscitation efforts by rescue professionals failed, and the doctor was informed via telephone. Beauchamp was not examined by the physician at the time, and did not have to be according to best practices. Hours later, after her body arrived at a Detroit funeral home, morticians realized Beauchamp was still alive. After it was announced that Beauchamp was alive, Southfield Fire Chief Johnny Menifee suggested in a news conference that Beauchamp's revival may be a case of Lazarus syndrome. She later died on October 18, 2020. • Camila Roxana Martinez Mendoza, 3, of
Villa de Ramos, Mexico, was declared dead by doctors on August 17, 2022, due to complications from a stomach infection but at her funeral, family members noticed she was breathing and had a pulse. She was taken back to the same hospital that initially treated her for the infection and declared her dead, but she could not be saved.
Record Velma Thomas, 59, of
Nitro, West Virginia, United States holds the record time for recovering from
clinical death. In May 2008, Thomas went into cardiac arrest at her home. Medics were able to establish a faint pulse after eight minutes of CPR. Her heart stopped twice after arriving at the hospital and she was placed on life support. Doctors attempted to lower her body temperature to prevent additional brain injury. She was declared clinically dead for 17 hours after doctors failed to detect brain activity. Her son, Tim Thomas, stated that "her skin had already started hardening, her hands and toes were curling up, they were already drawn". She was taken off life support and funeral arrangements were in progress. However, ten minutes after being taken off life support, she revived and recovered. == Implications ==