Man declared dead while still showing signs of life

When our loved one is in a life-or-death situation, we tend to put our trust in medical professionals without hesitation in hopes that our loved one will be saved. Even with this trust, many individuals will stay vigilant to make sure that no errors are made when it comes to the health of someone they love. But what happens if you notice an error and a medical professional refuses to hear your concern? That’s exactly what happened to a New York woman last year.

The woman’s husband ended up at DeGraff Memorial Hospital after having a heart attack. About 30 minutes after the man arrived, the doctor removed him off life support and declared him dead. What happened next is truly something out of a horrible nightmare. The wife says she noticed signs that her husband was still alive. She told The Buffalo News that her husband “turned his eyes” and looked at her. When she told the doctor that her husband was still alive, the doctor brushed it off as “life expelling out of his body.”

Sometime later the coroner arrived and saw signs of life as well. He told the doctor who again brushed it off as a bodily reaction to drugs. The coroner refused to take the body until the signs of life stopped showing. Finally, almost three hours after declaring him dead, the doctor came back to check on the patient. At that point he realized that the man was alive. According to the man’s wife, he was actually “thrashing around on the gurney. “ Unfortunately, the man died the next morning after being transferred to Buffalo General Medical Center.

The widow has filed a lawsuit that seeks damages from the doctor and various other parties. As she explained, it’s not about the money. She said she just wants to “look that doctor in the face” and tell him that he’ll “never do it to another family again.”