The family of a young Peruvian man who died after undergoing a root canal operation have spoken of their distress when the man appeared to be breathing at his own funeral.
Watson Franklin Mandujano Doroteo, of the Peruvian city of Tingo María, was inside his coffin when some relatives noticed what they believe was his rib-cage rising and falling as he continued to breathe.
Doroteo had earlier been pronounced dead by doctors after experiencing fever and chills following a root canal operation on October 21.
But at the wake, relatives present called a doctor when they saw apparent signs of life.
According to Argentine newspaper Los Andes, the doctor arrived and confirmed Doroteo showed vital signs.
Doroteo was then removed from the coffin and immediately transferred to hospital, where it was confirmed he was dead.
The young man’s relatives claim he may have been alive all along and sedated as a result of the drugs he had been given for the dental operation.
“They gave him diazepam”, one of his family was quoted as saying.
There are very few recorded cases of muscle movement after death.
But there are many cases where people have previously been mistakenly diagnosed as being dead.
Several recorded instances of people waking at their own funerals have been recorded in recent years prompting fears that premature burial may not have been consigned to the history books by advances in modern medicine.
In March 2014, 79-year-old Walter Williams was found alive and literally kicking, in a body bag before he was to be embalmed in America – the confusion was apparently due to his pacemaker turning off.
In Egypt in 2012, a waiter’s funeral became a celebration after the doctor signing his death certificate realised the 28-year-old man was still alive despite having suffered a heart attack at work.
Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has asked the Spanish senate for authorisation to fire the Catalan president and his cabinet as Madrid prepares to assume control of the region to put an end to the independence crisis.
Addressing the senate on Friday morning, Rajoy said Carles Puigdemont’s decision to flout the Spanish constitution by holding a unilateral independence referendum earlier this month had forced the central government to take the unprecedented step of imposing direct rule.
In a speech punctuated by loud applause, he requested permission to remove Puigdemont’s administration, saying recent events in Catalonia represented “a clear violation of the laws, of democracy, of the rights of all – and that has consequences”.
The senate, in which Rajoy’s governing People’s party (PP) has a majority, is expected to approve the series of measures proposed under article 155 of the Spanish constitution later on Friday.
Rajoy said Puigdemont’s continued refusal to confirm whether or not independence had been declared was a step too far. The Catalan leader declared independence but suspended the effects for two months to allow for dialogue with Madrid.
“He was given the opportunity to clarify whether there had been a unilateral declaration of independence,” the prime minister said. “This is not a trifling matter. An answer was required and it wasn’t a difficult one: yes or no.”
He also criticised Puigdemont for turning down an invitation to explain himself before the senate, and said: “Dialogue has two enemies. The first is abusing the law, ignoring it and disobeying it. The second is when someone only wishes to listen to themselves and won’t understand or try to understand others.”
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The Catalan parliament is due to meet later on Friday morning to discuss its response to the invocation of 155, which has never been used since it was written into Spain’s 1978 constitution.
Puigdemont is under growing pressure to make a unilateral declaration of independence and the issue could be voted on later this afternoon.
The Catalan leader dashed hopes of a possible way out of the crisis on Thursday when he refused to call a snap election, saying he could not offer fresh polls without a firm guarantee that the Spanish government would suspend its threat to impose direct rule.
“We have not received the necessary guarantees to justify holding elections,” he said in an address at the regional government palace in Barcelona. “We have tried to get them but we have not had a responsible response from the PP and they have chosen to increase the tension. I have run out of options.”
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