A man who had been pronounced dead by three doctors was found alive and ‘snoring’ just hours before his post-mortem according to Spanish media.
The ‘corpse’ of 29 year old Gonzalo Montoya Jimenez, a prisoner at the Penitentiary Center of Asturias in northern Spain, had been placed in a body bag and transferred to a hospital mortuary after he collapsed and ‘died’ in his cell
Local news site lavozdeasturias.es said that Montoya was literally ‘saved by a snore’ on the autopsy table.
The Independent reports: Jimenez’s family said he “had autopsy markings on him, ready to be opened up”.
The Forensic Anatomical Institute of Oviedo only realised the prison doctors’ mistake when the 29-year-old was heard snoring on the autopsy table, reports La Voz de Asturias.
Jimenez is now under observation in intensive care at the Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA), Oviedo.
After regaining conscious 24 hours later, the first thing he did was ask about his wife, according to the newspaper.
The incident is suspected to be a case of catalepsy; a condition characterised by rigidity of the body, a loss of responsiveness to pain and a slowing down of bodily functions, such as breathing.
Doctors feared brain damage, but said signs were positive after he talked and was able to remember his wife.
Niamh Harris