'Dead' woman found alive in mortuary fridge

Medics declared the woman who was in a car accident to be dead, but the forensic officer said she was still alive while inside a mortuary fridge.

Investigations have been conducted by Gauteng’s Department of Health after a woman was discovered to be alive in a mortuary fridge in Carletonville. It had been hours since the paramedics announced that she was already deceased.

She was declared dead while still at the scene of the incident involving a pile-up outside Carletonville in the wee hours of July 1st.

As reported by News24, the woman’s car rolled which threw three occupants out of the vehicle. Two of them were confirmed to be dead.

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For more details about the crash, follow us on Twitter at AmoMama USA.

Dr. Paul Morule, Gauteng Forensic Pathology Services CEO, said on July 3rd that the authorities asked them to respond and get the dead bodies at the place of the accident.

Morule clarified that the private emergency service had announced that the people were deceased.

He said, "As per procedure, forensic officers collected the bodies for storage and further investigations to determine the cause of the death by [a] pathologist."

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Although, a forensic officer, later on, reported that the woman – who was already in the morgue fridge - was alive.

Morule explained that the forensic officer "promptly summoned help" and went on to bring the woman to the closest medical center.

Ambulance service Distress Alert operations manager Gerrit Bradnick informed the news outlet that they followed their procedures.

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He stated, "All the right checks were done - breathing, pulse - so the patient was declared deceased. The crew is absolutely devastated. We're not in the business of declaring living people dead, we're in the business of keeping people alive.”

The incident has been reported to the Health Professions Council of South Africa and the family of the victim has been informed as well.

Updates revealed that the woman is still in critical condition and is currently admitted at a Gauteng government hospital.